A glass of water ( n = 1.33) has a layer ofvegetable oil ( n = 1.47) floating on

Question

A glass of water (n = 1.33) has a layer ofvegetable oil (n = 1.47) floating on top. A beamof light enters the oil from above the glass with an incident angleof 57.0°. What is the refraction angle of the light leaving theoil-water interface?
(Tried using Snell's Law alone to solve problem, but got the wronganswer of 68°) A glass of water (n = 1.33) has a layer ofvegetable oil (n = 1.47) floating on top. A beamof light enters the oil from above the glass with an incident angleof 57.0°. What is the refraction angle of the light leaving theoil-water interface?
(Tried using Snell's Law alone to solve problem, but got the wronganswer of 68°)

Explanation / Answer

We have n1 sin 1 = n2 sin 2 and n2 sin 2 = n3sin3. let n1 = air, n2 = oil, n3 = water. So what you really wantis 3. Therefore 1*sin(57.0) = 1.33 sin (3) 3 = 39 deg. This makes sense because it is less thanthe incident angle. Hope this helps! Mr. D

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