What Does Refractive Index Mean
Refractive Index:
Refractive Index formula is use to find the change of speed of light as it travels from air into glass. It measure how much light slows down when it enters denser medium such as glass.
The formulae is written as:
To find out the refractive index, substitute these into the equation;
The speed of light travels in air is 3 x 10^8-1
The speed of light travels in glass is 2 x 10^8 ms^-1
Refractive Index (Glass): 3 x 10^8 / 2 x 10^8 = 1.5
When light enters glass, its reflective index is 1.5.
To further assist with understanding why light refract and what causes these behavioural acts, I will use the analogy of marching soldiers as an example.
This analogy of the marching soldiers shows that the students are representing the light rays (demonstrated by a blue ray), the masking tape represents the boundary that separates the two media (medium 1- less dense, medium 2- dense), and the red ray represents the alteration of which the light travels once it passes the boundary. Every single students are approaching the tape at an angle, therefore, each and everyone will reach the tape at different time. Whoever reaches the tape first will slow down while the rest of the students continue to march. This continues on for every single students. The direction that the students is heading towards is altered at the boundary. This is an example of how the recharge in speed causes a change in direction. …show more content…
There are two specific steps that are required for an observable change like the marching soldiers analogy in the direction of light to occur:
The students (light rays) must change speed when crossing over the boundary
Refractive Index formula is use to find the change of speed of light as it travels from air into glass. It measure how much light slows down when it enters denser medium such as glass.
The formulae is written as:
To find out the refractive index, substitute these into the equation;
The speed of light travels in air is 3 x 10^8-1
The speed of light travels in glass is 2 x 10^8 ms^-1
Refractive Index (Glass): 3 x 10^8 / 2 x 10^8 = 1.5
When light enters glass, its reflective index is 1.5.
To further assist with understanding why light refract and what causes these behavioural acts, I will use the analogy of marching soldiers as an example.
This analogy of the marching soldiers shows that the students are representing the light rays (demonstrated by a blue ray), the masking tape represents the boundary that separates the two media (medium 1- less dense, medium 2- dense), and the red ray represents the alteration of which the light travels once it passes the boundary. Every single students are approaching the tape at an angle, therefore, each and everyone will reach the tape at different time. Whoever reaches the tape first will slow down while the rest of the students continue to march. This continues on for every single students. The direction that the students is heading towards is altered at the boundary. This is an example of how the recharge in speed causes a change in direction. …show more content…
There are two specific steps that are required for an observable change like the marching soldiers analogy in the direction of light to occur:
The students (light rays) must change speed when crossing over the boundary