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Home / Physics / Tracing Path of a Ray of Light Passing Through a Glass Slab | Testbook

Tracing Path of a Ray of Light Passing Through a Glass Slab | Testbook

Last Updated on Feb 05, 2025
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The bending of a light ray as it moves from one medium to another is known as refraction. This phenomenon is governed by Snell’s law , which posits that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction remains constant. In this article, we will conduct an experiment to trace the path of a light ray as it passes through a rectangular glass slab.

Article Sections:

Aim

The purpose of our experiment is to trace the path of a light ray as it travels through a rectangular glass slab at various angles of incidence. We will measure and interpret the angle of incidence, angle of refraction, and angle of emergence.

Theory

What are the laws of refraction?

The laws of refraction are as follows:

  • The incident ray, the refracted ray, and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
  • According to Snell's law, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction remains constant.

What does refraction of light mean?

Refraction of light refers to the bending of a light ray as it moves from one medium to another.

Can you explain lateral displacement?

Lateral displacement is the shift in the path of a light ray perpendicular to the direction of propagation as it emerges from the refracting medium.

Materials Required
  1. A drawing board
  2. 4-6 drawing pins
  3. A sheet of white paper
  4. A rectangular glass slab
  5. A protractor
  6. A ruler
  7. A pencil
  8. Thumb pins

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Procedure
  1. Secure a sheet of white paper onto a soft drawing board using thumb pins.
  2. Place the glass slab at the center of the paper and outline its boundary with a sharp pencil.
  3. Label the rectangular outline as ABCD.
  4. Mark a point E on side AB and draw a normal EN to it.
  5. Draw an angle of 30° with EN using a protractor. Place pins at points P and Q on the drawn ray, maintaining a distance of about 4-5 cm between them.
  6. Position the glass slab back on the outline ABCD.
  7. Looking through the glass slab from side CD, fix pins at points R and S such that pins P, Q, R, and S appear to be in a straight line.
  8. Draw small circles around the pins P, Q, R and S and remove the pins.
  9. Remove the glass slab.
  10. Join points R and S and extend the line to meet CD at point F. Draw a perpendicular N’M’ to CD at point F.
  11. Join points E and F using a pencil.
  12. Measure the angles formed at AB and CD. These are the incident angle, refracted angle, and emergent angle.
  13. Extend ray PQ in a dotted line parallel to ray FRS to obtain the lateral displacement.
  14. Measure the lateral displacement.
  15. Repeat the procedure for angles of incidence of 45° and 60°.

Ray Diagram

Observation Table
Serial No. Angle of incidence
∠i = ∠PEN 		Angle of refraction
∠r = ∠MEF 		Angle of emergence
∠e = ∠SFM’ 		∠i – ∠e
∠PEN – ∠SFM’
1 30 ° 28 ° 30 ° 0 °
2 45 ° 43 ° 44.8 ° 0.2 °
3 60 ° 56 ° 59.8 ° 0.2 °

Due to possible human error, the value of ∠ i – ∠ e may not be precisely zero.

Conclusion
  1. The angle of incidence and the angle of emergence are almost identical.
  2. Since light is moving from a rarer to denser optical medium, the angle of refraction will be less than the angle of incidence.
  3. The lateral displacement remains the same for different angles of incidence.
  4. The light ray bends towards the normal when it moves from an optically rarer to an optically denser medium.

Precautions
  1. The rectangular glass slab used should have smooth surfaces.
  2. The drawing board should be soft enough to easily fix the pins.
  3. The angle of incidence should be between 30° and 60°.
  4. All pins should be aligned in a straight line.
  5. Maintain a gap of about 5 cm between the pins P and Q or the pins R and S.
  6. Use a sharp pencil to draw thin lines.
  7. The protractor used should be of good quality.
  8. The protractor should be correctly placed for accurate measurements.
  9. Perpendiculars should be drawn with care.

Sources of Error
  1. The glass slab should not contain any air bubbles.
  2. The protractor should provide accurate measurements.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of emergence or may differ by very small amount due to human error.

The angle of incidence required for the above experiment is between 30° to 60°.

When the light ray is perpendicular to the refracting surface, there is no deviation in the light ray.

The refraction of light causes the rainbow formation due to tiny water droplets in the atmosphere.

When the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of the emergent ray, the emergence and incident ray will be parallel.
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