When a light ray travels from a more dense medium to a less dense medium and the

Question

When a light ray travels from a more dense medium to a less dense medium and the light ray intercepts the interface at some angle, the light ray will be deviated away from the normal to the interface. When the angle of the incident light ray is equal or greater than some critical angle(-)c, the light ray will be bent away from the normal until the angle of refraction becomes 90 degrees and total internal reflection occurs. The critical angle, (-)c, for two media whose indices of refraction are n1 and n2 can be found from Snell's Law.

b.) Find the crtical angle for water, whose index of refraction is 1.33.

Explanation / Answer

The critical angle for water is

theta _c = sin ^ -1 ( 1/ n )

= sin ^ -1 ( 1 /1.33 )

=48.75 degrees

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