STAGE 1 PHYSICS

GEOMETRIC OPTICS PRACTICAL REPORT

Aim: The aim of this practical is to investigate and estimate the refractive index
by shining white light through Perspex, and to find and investigate the dispersion
caused by the white light through the prism.
Apparatus/Materials:

12 Volt Light Box

Perspex
Power Pack
Single Slit Card
Paper
Protractor
Ruler
.

Method/Procedure:

1) Gather all equipment needed for investigation, and set it up as the apparatus
shown above.

2) Place the Perspex approximately 5cm away from the light box and using a
protractor, measure the angles of incidence and refraction.

3) Repeat step 2, with different angles 4 times and then record all data and
observations into a table.
Results:
Test

1
2
3
4

40
60
30
50

42
68
32
54

1.000277sin i/si
n r
0.960897104
0.9342972147
0.943801318
0.9471452921

Analysis: In this investigation, the task at hand was to find the reactive index of
Perspex and its critical angle. The students were given the necessary equipment
and were tasked with the objective of finding and creating a procedure to
measure the Refractive Index of Perspex. For this investigation, the students in
this particular group, found a formula they could use to measure the Refractive
Index. The students used the Refraction Index of air, which was 1.000277, and
rearranged the formula:

n2
n1

sin i
sinr

STAGE 1 PHYSICS

GEOMETRIC OPTICS PRACTICAL REPORT

To this:

n2 =

1.000277 sin i
sin r

To find the critical angle of Perspex, the student discovered that when white light
enters a medium at an angle other than 0, it refracts into its component colours
as each frequency is bent a different amount. To find the critical angle however,
the group determined that the critical angle of Perspex was just before the ray of
component colours disappeared.
In this investigation there were many things that could have been improved
upon. For instance, the room used to perform the investigation was not fully
dark, so any results and measurements of things like the critical angle could
have been altered and inaccurate. Another issue that weighed down the
reliability of the measurements were the tools we used. Some of the rulers and
protractors were old and had already begin to fade away the inking, this could
have posed some serious systematic errors to the investigation as the tools were
not very reliable and accurate.
Although this investigation went smoothly, and was rather easy to complete,
there were still issues and errors that could have been present in the
examination and investigation of this practical. One of these could have been the
random errors posed by human error in the measurements of angles. Although
the year eleven students were familiar in the use of measuring angles, there
would still be errors and miscalculation in some of the angles measured. As said
before, some systematic errors that were posed a risk in this investigation was
the reliability of the tools. Certain things like the protractors, rulers and light
boxes were either faulty, or clearly had taken on some damage throughout its
life.
While this investigation seemingly went according to the plan, only one vital
thing went wrong during the duration of this practical. Many members of the
group found it increasingly difficult to measure the angles of incidence and
refraction, due to the frequent movement of paper, or accidentally knocking the
light boxes with their hand. This however, was fixed as the students decided to
find a solution to the problem by weighing down the paper by books, to stop the
random movement of the paper.

Questions:
a) Whilst finding the emerging ray, students were tasked to find the emerging
rays biggest point, and find all the colours shown in their order. The students
of this group found that the colours in their order were purple, blue, green,
yellow, orange and red.
Conclusion:

Word Count:

Suggestions:

STAGE 1 PHYSICS
-

GEOMETRIC OPTICS PRACTICAL REPORT

Finish the questions from the analysis section of the practical instructions
and the conclusion
You need to calculate the critical angle of Perspex
You should compare the accepted values of the refractive index and
critical angle of Perspex