Refraction of Light
Knowledge you need to have:
Definition of absolute refractive index of a medium as the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the medium.
Description of an experiment to determine the refractive index of a medium.
Knowledge that the refractive index of a medium increases as the frequency of incident radiation increases.
Definition of critical angle as the angle of incidence which produces an angle of refraction of 90°.
Knowledge that total internal reflection occurs when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle.
Skills you need to develop:
Use of an appropriate relationship to solve problems involving absolute refractive index, the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction.
Use of appropriate relationships to solve problems involving the angles of incidence and refraction, the wavelength of light in each medium, the speed of light in each medium, and the frequency, including situations where light is travelling from a more dense to a less dense medium.
