Notes for IGCSE Grade 10 - From 7.04 to 7.

09

Refraction of light
When a light ray enters from one medium to the other medium, it changes its direction in the second
medium depending upon the angle of incidence because of the change in speed (Fundamental cause
of refraction of light).
When the light ray enters from denser medium to the rarer medium, it bends away from the normal.
Its speed and wavelength increases but frequency remains same.
Direction of refracted wave depends upon the direction of incident wave.

When light ray enters from rare medium to the denser medium, it bends towards the normal.
Its speed and wavelength decreases but frequency remains same.
Direction of refracted ray of light depends upon the direction of incident ray of light.

Laws of refraction
When light ray refracts, it obeys the laws of refraction which are stated as under.
1- Sine of Angle of incidence is directly proportional to the Sine of Angle of refraction.
Or
Ratio of the Sine of angle of incidence to Sine of angle of refraction is always a constant called
the refractive index of the medium for a light ray of given wavelength and colour.

Note : This law is also regarded as the Snell’s Law.

 2- Incident ray, refracted ray and normal all they lie in the same plane.

Important to note:
1- Angle of incidence (i) is the angle between incident ray and the normal to the boundary of the
first medium (often also called as the interface b/w the two media).
2- Angle of refraction (r) is the angle between the refracted ray and the normal to the boundary of
the second medium, in which light ray enters
3- In refraction phenomenon, direction, wavelength and the speed change but frequency remains
same.
4- In refraction phenomenon, if angle of incidence is zero (means ray is coming along the normal)
then angle of refraction will also be zero and the wave goes straight in the second medium
without bending, but speed and wavelength changes depending upon the nature of the second
medium in which it is entering.
5- In this syllabus we study three media, glass, water and air. Glass is most dense medium, then
water and water which is denser than air. In water we study two regions shallow and deeper,
deeper is the rare medium as compare to the shallow region.
6- Ratio of Sin i to the Sin r is always constant for a particular medium, which is called the
refractive index of that medium.

Refractive Index
The refractive index of a material indicates how strongly the material changes the direction of the light. It
is calculated using the formula;

Refractive index = Sin i / Sin r

Where,
i = angle of incidence
r = angle of refraction

Material Refractive index

Vacuum 1 (Lowest)
Air 1.0003 Or 1.0004
Water 1.3
Glass 1.5
Sapphire 1.75
Diamond 2.42 (Highest)

The refractive index can also be determined by using the following relation,

Refractive index = 1 / Sin C

Where, C is the critical angle.

We can also use the following equation to determine the refractive index

Refractive index = c / v
Where,
c = speed of light in vacuum
v = Speed of light in the material
 Critical angle
It is the angle of incidence in the denser medium for which angle of refraction in the rare medium is 90 o.

Critical angle and the refractive index are related by the relation,
Refractive index (n) = 1 / Sin C
OR
Sin C = 1 / Refractive index (n)
Total internal reflection
When ray of light enters from denser medium to the rarer medium they move away from the normal.
As the angle of incidence increases, an angle is reached at which the light rays will have to leave with
an angle of refraction greater than 90o.

These rays cannot refract, so they are entirely reflected back inside the medium. This process is known
as total internal reflection.
In other words we can say that, if angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, total internal
reflection takes place.

Essential Conditions For TIR to occur :

1. Light rays must propagate from Denser to Rarer medium.
2. Light rays must be incident at an grater or equal to the ‘Critical Angle’.
 Fiber-optics
Total internal reflection is used in fiber optic cables. A fiber optic cable is made of a bundle of very thin
glass fibers. The light continues along the fiber by being constantly internally reflected.

1. Telephone and T.V. communications systems are increasingly relying on fiber optics instead of
the more traditional copper cables.
2. Fiber optic cables do not use electricity and the signals are carried by infrared rays.
3. The signals are very clear as they do not suffer from electrical interference.
4. Other advantages are that they are cheaper than the copper cables and can carry thousands of
different signals down the same fiber at the same time.
5. Bundles of several thousand optical fibers are use in medical endoscope for internal examination
of the body. The bundle will carry an image from one end of the bundle to the other, each fiber
carrying one tiny part (one pixel) of the image.

Convex Lens
A lens is a refractive material which bends a light ray when it passes through it either towards the
principal axis or away from it.
There are following types of lenses;
1. Convex Lens - Thick from the centre and thin at edges. (Shown in Fig A below)
 2. Plano Convex Lens - It is curved outwards from one side and is plane or flat from the other side.
(Shown in Fig B below)

3. Convexo Concave Lens - Shown in Fig C.

4. Concave Lens - Thin from the centre and thick at edges. (Shown in Fig D below)
5. Plano Concave Lens - It is curved inwards from one side and is plane or flat from the other side.
(Shown in Fig E below)
6. Concavo Convex Lens - Shown in Fig F.

A Convex lens is used in many optical instruments like microscope, telescope, camera, etc.
A convex lens is the thickest in the centre and is also called a converging lens because it bends
the light inward.

Principal axis: A spherical surface has a centre of curvature, which is the centre of the sphere from
which it is drawn. A convex lens has two centres of curvature. A line passing through the centers of
curvature and the optical centre is called the principal axis.

Optical centre: There is a particular point 'C' (at the centre of the lens) in a lens called its optical centre
such that any ray passing through this point does not suffer any change in its direction. Optical centre
'C' of a lens always lies on the principal axis.

Principal focus: The point where all the rays parallel to the principal axis meet after passing through
a convex lens is called the principal focus 'F'.

Focal length : It is the distance 'f' between the optical centre 'C' and the principal focus 'F'.

Behavior of standard rays after passing through convex lens

Information about the images formed by a lens can be obtained by drawing any of two of the following
standard rays from the top of the object.

Standard rays:

 1. If ray of light is passing through the optical centre, after refracting through the convex lens, it goes
straight without bending or deviating.

 2. If a ray of light is coming parallel to the principal axis, after refracting through the convex lens it
passes through the focus point or principal focus.
 3. If a ray of light is coming from the focus point or principal focus, after refracting through convex lens,
it becomes parallel to the principal axis.

Image formed by convex lens

In each ray diagram, in the figure below two rays are drawn from the top of the object

(a) When an object is placed in front of a convex lens at distance greater than 2f, its image will be
formed between F and 2F, as shown in the figure below. The image will be diminished real and
inverted.

(b) When an object is placed at 2F in front of a convex lens the image will be formed at 2F as shown
in the figure below. The image will be of the same size, real but inverted.

(c) When object is placed in front of a convex lens between between F and 2F. The image will be
formed at a distance beyond 2F from the lens as shown in the figure below. The image will be
magnified, real and inverted.

(d) When object is at F in front of the lens, its image will be at infinity, much enlarged, real and
inverted as shown in the figure below.

(e) When the object is placed between the lens and its principal focus. Then the image will be
formed on the same side behind the object. The image will be magnified, errect and virtual as
shown in the figure below.

Nature and position of image produced by convex lens;

Image
Position of Object in front of the lens
Position Nature Size
At infinity At F Real, Inverted Diminished
Beyond 2F Between F and 2F Real, Inverted Diminished
At 2F At 2F Real, Inverted Same size
Between F and 2F Beyond 2F Real, Inverted Magnified
At F At infinity Real, Inverted Magnified
Between lens and F Behind the object Virtual, erect Magnified
 Note : F' is the principal focus on the side of the object and F is the principal focus on the other side of
the lens opposite to the object.
Principle of camera
A simple lens camera consists of a light proof box fitted with a convex lens at one end as shown in the
figure below.
The lens is adjusted to get a real and sharp image on the photographic film.
The amount of light is controlled by an adjustable aperture and shutter.
When the button is pressed, then the shutter opens for short interval. Image of the object before the
camera is formed on the photographic film.
The exposed film is then developed to make the image visible.

Most of the modern cameras use a system of lenses instead of a single lens. This improves the quality
of the image taken by such cameras. The quality of the image taken by such camera depends upon the
following factors;
 The quality of the lens or lens system.
 Proper focusing of the camera.
 Proper illumination of the object or scene to the photograph.
 Proper adjustment of the aperture size and shutter speed.

Dispersion of light
Light coming from the sun or electric bulb is called white light. If this light is allowed to fall on a prism it
spits up into its constituent colours.
Hence "splitting up of white light into its constituent colours is called dispersion of light".
 *Newton's experiment for dispersion of light*
In order to observe spectrum of light Newton performed an experiment by making a small circular hole
in one of the window of his room.
When sunlight entered in the room through this hole, a spot of white light was formed on the opposite
wall.
He introduced a prism in the path of narrow beam of white light as shown in the figure below.
Light after passing through the prism formed a pattern of seven colors on the wall.

Newton explained the spectrum by the theory that white light consists of a mixture of light of seven
colors.
The refractive index of glass is different for light of each colour.
So, that white light falls on the prism each colour in it is refracted at a different angle so the colours are
spread out to form a spectrum.

Recombination of colors
The colours of the spectrum may be recombined to form white light by allowing spectrum to be formed
on a row of small rectangular plane mirror as shown in the figure below.

A screen 'W' is adjusted at such an angle that all these mirrors reflect the light on the screen at the
same point.
The result is, a spot of white light is formed on the screen.

Newton also performed an experiment regarding the recombination of components colours. He pianted
the colours of the spectrum in sectors on a disc as shown in the figure below.

When it is rotated with high speed, the disc appears white.

This happens because of the persistence of vision i.e. the impression of an image on the retina of an
eye is retained for a fraction of a second after the image has disappeared.

Consequently the brain sums up and mixes together the rapidly changing coloured images of the disc.
Thus the sensation of the stationary white image is produced.

Rainbow

The rainbow is a natural phenomenon sometimes seen after a rain. In the seventeenth century a French
mathematician Rene Descartes gave the idea that rainbow is produced by the dispersion of light.

According the Rene, after the rain showers, a number of droplets of water remain suspended high up in
the air. When sun light falls on theses water droplets, it gets split, as each drop acts like a prism.

So, each ray of light after passing through the drop suffers refraction and total internal reflection.

The violet colour is refracted the most and the red colour, at least.

Thus the red ray which emerges from each droplet makes greater angle with the horizontal than the
violet ray.
Similarly other coloured rays emerge at different angles to the horizontal.

The droplets which are at the same angle from the observer will produce the same colour.

Consequently, a region of coloured bands called the rainbow appears in the sky opposite to the sun as
shown in the figure below.

The colours in the rainbow are distributed in such a way that violet lies on the inside of the bow, while
the red light outside of the bow.

Essential Conditions For Formation of Rainbow :

1. To observe a rainbow the sun should be at the back of the observer as rainbow is always formed in
a direction opposite to that of the sun.
2. The angle at which the observer must look at the sky in order to see a rainbow should be 40 - 42
degree.
3. Adequate level of humidity in the atmosphere is a must for formation of rainbows.