A light ray moving from a rarer to a denser medium bends towards the normal on refraction. If we increase the angle of incidence will the refracted ray move more towards the normal or away from normal?

Academic Physics NCERT Class 10

When the light rays either bend or change their direction while passing from one medium to another it is called refraction of light. The refraction of light takes place when light travels from air into glass, from glass into air, from air into water, or from water into the air.

The examples of optical instruments that work on the basis of refraction of light are camera, microscope, etc.

The angle of incidence, i: The angle between the incident ray and normal is called the angle of incidence.

The angle of refraction, r: The angle between the refracted ray and normal is called the angle of refraction.

The angle of refraction is either smaller or greater than the angle of incidence.

The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant for a given pair of media.

The sine of the angle of incidence/ sine of the angle of refraction = Constant

This constant is called refractive index.

Or Sine i/ Sine r = constant

If we increase the angle of incidence, the refracted ray will move away from normal as the angle of refraction also increases proportionally as the refractive index of the denser medium wrt to the rarer medium is a constant.

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Updated on: 10-Oct-2022

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