Reflection and Refraction

Understandings:

• Wavefronts and rays
• Reflection and refraction
• Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection

Applications and skills:

• Sketching and interpreting diagrams involving wavefronts and rays
• Sketching and interpreting incident, reflected and transmitted waves at boundaries between media
• Solving problems involving reflection at a plane interface
• Solving problems involving Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection
• Determining refractive index experimentally

Guidance:

• Quantitative descriptions of refractive index are limited to light rays passing between two or more transparent media. If more than two media, only parallel interfaces will be considered

Huygen's wave theory: