Summary PHY 114 Lab Report 9: Reflection and Refraction of Light . Arizona State University

Lab Report 9: Reflection and Refraction of Light

PHY 114

, ABSTRACT:

The goal of this experiment was to verify Snell’s law and the law of reflection. By shining a laser

through solid plastic and water, it became possible to study these these properties of light by

measuring their angles of incidence, their critical angles and their angles of refractions. The

slopes of i vs. θr and sin θ1 vs. sin θ2 for each medium made it possible to confirm Snell’s law,

and the law of reflection due to low errors (1.29% and 0.8%) in the slope. In the same way,

Snell’s law was verified due to low error (3.8% and 9.8%) in the slope as well. The critical

angle made it possible to calculate the index of refraction, and when compared to the

theoretical values of each medium, low errors of (2.329% and 6.316%) confirm that the

experiment was completed successfully.

OBJECTIVE:

Verify Snell’s Law and the Law of Reflection by shining a laser source in various directions through a

couple semicircular prisims (solid plastic and filled with water) and measuring their respective angles of

incidences and refractions.

PROCEDURE: