Refraction Lab Report

Lab Report for Refraction.

Problem: What is the effect of density on the angle of refraction.

Hypothesis: The water will cause the light to refract more.

Background: Refraction is opposite of reflection where it bends the light and does not "bounce" it off of something. When light changes directions it must go through one medium to another at a specific angle to be bent. This bending is called refraction. Refraction causes our brains to be tricked and see an object not in its true position. This is because of how the light is bending. Light travels through different materials at different speeds. For example through air light travels at approximetely 300,000 kilometers per second. The speed of how fast light travels depends on the denisity

of what its traveling through. Just like reflection refraction also has a law. Its law is "Light that moves at an angle from a less dense medium to a more dense medium bends toward the normal. Light that moves at an angle from a more dense medium to a less dense medium bends away from the normal. Light that moves straight on from one medium to another does not bend it is not refracted."
Apparatus: See lab outline.
Procedure: See lab outline.
Variables: Independent / manipulated variable
Density (type of liquid)
Dependent / responding variable
Angle of refraction
Control variable
Angle of incidence (30 ), the amount of liquid and light refraction box
Results:

Analysis: 1.

In other materials light travels in a straight line, it can reflect and refract. This depends on what surface it is enteracting with. For example when light collides with a mirror it bounce back in two different angles therefore it is not straight.

3. The three differences between the materials we used was that in one we had liquids in which we tested how the density effects the refraction of light. In a different one we had reflective surfaces where we tested how the path of light was affected with different angles of the reflective surface. The last thing was we had different measurements to be taken because we were looking for different things.

4. The container did affect the results a little bit. This is because instead of it going straight through the liquid it had to go through a denser material of plastic which altered the resulted minimally.

Conclusion: My hypothesis was supported because the water refracted the light more. This is shown by the diagrams and the angles being 30 and 41 .

Application: The law of refraction is used in everyday life by glasses. This is because lenses use the law of refraction to form an image of an object for example magnifying it. Another way we use the law of refraction daily is telesccopes. We use this in refraction because it changes the image by slowing down and bending the light rays to create a visible

image.