Three media are placed on top of one another. A ray of light starting in medium

Question

Three media are placed on top of one another. A ray of light starting in medium 2 experiences total internal refleciton at the top interface but some of the light refracts into medium 3 when the ray reaches the bottom interface. The two interfaces are parallel.

a. Rank the media by their index of refraction, from largest to smallest. Justify your answer.

b. Medium 2 has an index of refraction of 1.5; the angle of incidence of the very first ray is 45 degrees; the angle of refraction in medium 3 is 70 degrees. Numerically, what can you say about the index of refraction of medium 1? What can you say about the index of refraction of medium 3?

Explanation / Answer

a)refractive index of medium2>medium 3>medium 1

b)sin45/sin 70 = n3/n1 so n3= 1.6128 (medium 3).

we can say that refractive index of medium 1 is smaller than medium 2 that is 1.5

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