ACTI VITY

B4
AIM

To observe refraction and lateral deviation of a beam of light incident obliquely ona glass
slab.

APPARATUSAND MATERIAL REQUIRED

A rectangular glass slab (preferably of larger size), a drawing board, white paper sheet
cello-tape/drawing pins, alpins, protractor, ruler, sharp pencil and eraser.
THEORY
Figure 5 shows the path ABCD of a ray suffering refraction through a rectangular glass slab PQRS. It is
seen that

Angle of incidence i=Angle of emergencee

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 Section B ACTIVITIES
Thus the emergent vay CD is parallel to the incident ray AB.
But the emergent ray gets laterally displaced with respect
Air
to the incident ray. The perpendicular distance between the
ittcident and emergent rays, when light is incident obliquely o Glass
a retracting slab with parallel faces, is called laterial shift or
lateral displacement.
It is given by

sin(i- r) = t sin i1 COS

COSr
(-Sini2
Clearly, dmaxt sin 90°= t Fig.5 Refraction through a glass slab.

The lateral shift produced by a glass slab increases with

(i) the increase in thickness t of glass slab,
(i) the increase in the value of angle of incidence i, and
(i) the increase in refractive index u of the glass slab.

RAYDIAGRAMS
A N As

i40 40° 40

(u) (c)

A Na As
N

D D

Fig. 6 Lateral displacements for different i and t.

PROCEDURE
E i x a white sheet of paper on the drawing board with the help of cello-tape or drawing pins
th slab breadtdiwise on the white sheet [Fig. 6l4)|. Mark its boundary PQRS with a

sharp pencil.
olass slab. Take a
point B, on tace AB, Draw normal B,N, on
.
Ken PQ. With the help of a
draw an incident ray A5, making an angle of incidence of 40° with the normal B, N..

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 LAB MANUAL PHYSICS-XII

4. Again, place the glass slab within its boundary PQRS. Fix two alpins P and P, vertically
and P vertically
on the
incident ray A,B,, about 8 to 10 cm apart.
.Looking into the slab from the opposite face SP, position the eye in such a way that the
v that the feet
feet of of
a n d P appear to be one behind the other. Now fix pins Pz and P vertically in line with pins t
pins
ins P,
and P as viewed through the slab.
6. Kemove the alpins and encircle the pin-pricks. Remove the slab and complete the path of the rau
of
light A,B,C,D, Draw perpendicular C,E, on A,B, produced and measure the length of C,E, This
gives a measure of lateral displacement d.

7. Place the glass slab lengthwise as shown in Fig. 6(b). Repeat the experiment again for the same
angle of incidence of 40°. Measure the lateral displacement.
8. Place the glass slab thicknesswise as shown in Fig. 6(c). Repeat the experiment again tor the same
angle of incidence of 40°. Measure the lateral displacement.
9. By placing the glass slab lengthwise as shown in Figs. 6(d) and (e), repeat the experiment twice for
angles of incidence of 50 and 60°. Measure the lateral displacement in each case.
10. Measure the slab using ruler. Record all
length, breadth and thickness of the glass a
your
observations in a tabular form.

OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS

Least count of the protractor = degrees
Least count of the ruler mm= CIT

Length of the glass slab, t, =. Cm

Breadth of the glass slab, t, =- Cm

Thickness of the glass slab, t = Cm

Table B8: Variation of lateral displacement with angle of incidence i and thickness t of glass slab
Thickness of glass Difference Lateral
S.No. slab traversed
Angle of incidence Angle of emergence Ratio
d
i (degrees) e (degrees) e displacement
(Cm) (degrees) d (cm)

40°

2 40 2
d2

3. 40 d
t2 50
d
60
d

RESULT
1. As difference i-e is small, so i =e When light refracts through a glass slab, the emergent ray
parallel to the direction of incident ray.
2. Within the limits of experimental error, from observations 1, 2 and 3 we see that the rao
d/t= constant. The lateral displacement of the emergent ray is directly proportional to the thicknes
of the glass slab (for constant i).
3. From observations 2, 4 and 5, we note the lateral
displacement of the emergent ray increases wiu
the increase in the angle of incidence i (for constant f).

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 Section B: ACTIVITIES

P R E C A U T I O N S

1 The boundary of the glass slab should be marked with a sharp pencil.
2. Alpins should be fixed vertically and about 8 to 10 cm apart.
3. The feet of the alpins and not their heads should be adjusted in the same straight line.
4. Just after removing an alpin, encircle the pin-prick with a sharpP pencil.
5. The angle of incidence should lie between 30° and 60°.

VIVA VOCE
3. For what angle of incidence, the lateral shift produced
1. What is lateral shift in refraction ?
The sidewise shift in the path of light on emerging
by a parallel sided glass slab is zero ?
is called For i=0, lateral shift is zero.
from a refracting medium with parallel faces
lateral shift. 4. For what angle of incidence, the lateral shift produced

2On what factors does the lateralshift depend ? by a parallel sided glass slab is maximum?
to the
the For i =90°, lateral shift is maximum and is equal
Lateral shift depends on angle of incidence,
thickness of the glass slab.
refractive index and thickness of the refracting
medium.