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Lecture Notes of Total Internal Reflection

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Vaishnavi Ramesh
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178 views

Lecture Notes of Total Internal Reflection

Uploaded by

Vaishnavi Ramesh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Physics Internal Reflection

Lecture notes:
Content:
1. What is total internal reflection?
2. Who found total internal reflection?
3. Under what conditions did total internal reflection take
place?
4. What is critical angle?
5. Formula to find the critical angle
6. Consequences of total internal reflection
7. Uses of total internal reflection in our daily life
8. Some questions related to total internal reflection

1. What is total internal reflection?


Total internal reflection is a complete reflection of a light ray
reaching an interface which is a less dense medium when the
angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle.

According to the name you may think it is something related


to Reflection but actually it is related to refraction.

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2. Who found total internal reflection?
This was first observed by Johannes Kepler in 1611. But in the
year of 1842 it was accidentally discovered by Daniel
Colladen

3. Under what conditions does total internal reflection


take place?
There are various conditions for total internal reflection to
take place. Three of the finest conditions for total internal
reflection to take place is:
 There should be 2 mediums for internal reflection to
take place
 The ray of light moves from denser medium to rarer
medium
 The angle of incidence should be always greater than
the critical angle for the pair of media.
These are the various conditions for total internal reflection
to take place.

4. What is critical angle?


In the definition of total internal reflection we saw a term
called critical angle.
So what do you think a critical angle is?

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The angle which is formed when the angle of incidence in
incident ray produce the refracted ray travels parallel to
principal axis is called as the critical angle.

It is basically the angle of incidence for which the angle


refraction is 90o

5. Formula to find the critical angle


Sin theta c= n2/n1

6. Consequences of total internal reflection


• Some of the consequences of total internal reflection is
1. Sparkling
2. Mirage(looming)
3. Rainbow

7. Applications of total internal reflection in daily life


Total internal reflection plays a major part in various
 Telecommunication systems
 Automotive rain sensors and windscreen wipers.
 Optical fingerprinting devices.
 Making of telescopes
 Diamond

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These are some applications or uses of Total internal
reflection in daily life.

8. Some questions related to total internal reflection


Q.1. Calculate the critical angle for glass-air surface, if a ray of light
which is incident in air on the glass surface is deviated through 15°, when
angle of incidence is 45°.

Q.2. Find the value of critical angle for a material of refractive index √3.

Q.3. The critical angle of incidence in a glass slab placed in air is 45°.
What will be the critical angle when it is immersed in water of refractive
index 1.33?

Q.4. For a situation shown in Figure, find the maximum angle ‘i’ for
which the light suffers total internal reflection at the vertical surface.

Q.5. The refractive index of water is 4/3. Obtain the value of the semi
vertical angle of the cone within which the entire outside view would be
confined for a fish under water. Draw an appropriate ray diagram.

Q.6. Calculate the speed of light in a medium, whose critical angle is 30°.

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Q.7. In the following ray diagram, calculate the speed of light in the liquid
of unknown refractive index.

Q.8. A point source of light S is placed at the bottom of a vessel


containing a liquid of refractive index 5/3. A person is viewing the source
from above the surface. There is an opaque disc of radius 1 cm floating on
the surface. The centre ‘O’ of the disc lies vertically above the source S.
The liquid from the vessel is gradually drained out through a tap. What is
the maximum height of the liquid for which the source cannot be seen at
all?

Q.9. A ray PQ incident normally on the refracting face BA is refracted in


the prism BAC made of material of refractive index 1.5. Complete the path
of ray through the prism. From which face will the ray emerge? Justify
your answer.

Q.10. Determine the value of the angle of incidence for a ray of light,
travelling from a medium of refractive index μ1 = √2 into the medium
of refractive index μ2 = 1, so that it just grazes along the surface of
separation.

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