Singrauli

Session 2015-16
Physics
Project work
For
“Refractive index of different
liquids using hollow glass
prism”
BY P. PRAVEEN KUMAR
XII “A” “18”

Teacher’s Signature Principal’s Signature

Mr. Mukesh Sharma Mr. S. S. Thaper
1. Acknowledgement
2. Certificate
3. Why a Project
4. Declaration
5. Aim
6. Introduction
7. Apparatus
8. Theory
9. Procedure
10. Observation
11. Calculation
12. Precautions
13. Result
I would like to express my gratitude to “Mr. Mukesh
Sharma “ Head of department of Physics of Delhi
Public School Nigahi, Singrauli (M.P.) Under Whose
Supervision and guidance the project was completed.

I am grateful to Principal Sir “Mr. S. S. Thaper”

For Providing all facilities and atmosphere, which were

a long way, helped me in completing this project.

I extend my grateful thanks to my group members for

their co-operation during course of investigation.
I declare that I have carried
out the experiment to the best
of my knowledge and ability.
This is completed in all
respect. It took me about a
week to complete this project.

Name- p. Praveen kumar

Roll no.- 18
 A Project is an
investigation help to
develop the concept of
original thinking and
execution of scientific
ideas.

A student can plan

one’s own experiment
and perform it to test
validity ideas.
 To study the variation of the
angle of deviation with the angle
of incidence using Hollow Glass
Prism and to determine the angle
of minimum deviation.

To find out the refractive index

of various liquids using Hollow
Glass Prism
 Introduction
Introduction Introduction
This project is of Investigatory Type.
In this project, a hollow prism has been used to
calculate the refractive index of various liquids.
The hollow prism is filled with liquids and then
the experiment is performed

Apparatus
Drawing Board Sheet of Paper
Hollow Glass Prism Graph Paper
Protractor Drawing Pins

Theory
Refraction: In a homogeneous medium, light travels
along a straight line, but whenever it falls on a surface of
another medium, a very small fraction of it is reflected back
and most of the light passes into the medium, though with a
change of direction. This phenomenon of the bending of light
at the surface of separation of the two medium is called
Refraction of Light.
 Causes of Refraction:
This phenomenon of refraction takes place when a beam of
light enters a medium in which light travels with a different velocity.

Laws of Refraction:
1. The incident ray, the refracted and the normal to the surface at the
point of incidence lie on the same plane.
2. For any two given media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of
incidence to the angle of refraction is a constant, where it is the
angle of incidence and is the angle of refraction.

Medium: The surrounding substance through which the light

travels. For a monochromatic light, the ratio of the sine of the
angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction is a constant
for any two given media. If ‘I’
Is the angle of incidence, and ‘r’ is the angle of refraction, then:
Sin i
= constant
Sin r

The constant is called the Refractive Index . For most purposes it

may be assumed that the refractive index is with respect to air.
When light travels from rarer to a denser medium, it bends towards
the normal and vice versa when it goes from denser to rarer
medium. It has been experimentally shown that

Refractive index of = Velocity of light in air

Substance Velocity of light in substance
Refraction through Prism:
A transparent medium bounded by two plane surface
inclined to each other at an angle is called a Prism. The angle
between the two faces is known as the angle of the Prism.

Angle of Deviation: The angle through which the

incident ray of light is deviated is called the angle of
deviation. In fact it is the angle between emergent ray and
incident ray produced.

Angle of Minimum Deviation: As the value of the

angle of incidence increases, the angle of deviation
decreases till for a particular value of the angle of
incidence, it attains a minimum value m, is called the angle
of minimum deviation.

Critical angle: It is that angle of incidence in the

denser medium for which corresponding angle of refraction
in the rarer medium is 90 degree.

I
µ =
Sin C
Where, µ- Refractive Index
 C- Critical Angle
The four parameters on which angle of deviation depend are:

1. Angle of prism (A)

2. Material of Prism (µ)
3. Angle of incidence (I)
4. Wavelength or colour of light ( λ)

Refraction through Prism:

Theory on refraction through Prism: When a ray of light passes from one
medium into another, it either bends towards the normal or awa from the
normal in the second medium, depending upon whether the second
medium is denser or rarer with respect to first medium. This
phenomenon is known as the Refraction of light.

For a particular pair of two media, and for a particular wavelength of

light (colour) the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence and the sine
of the angle of refraction is a constant quantity called the Refractive
Index of the second medium with respect to the first medium. It is
represented by:

Sin i
µ =
Sin r
 Therefore, the value of the angle o incidence ‘i’ can be obtained in
terms of the refracting angle ‘A’ of the prism and the angle of minimum
deviation ‘m’ and the angle of refraction ‘r’ can also be obtained in
terms of the refracting angle ‘A’ of the prism.

Let ABC represent a section of the glass prism and let IP be a ray
incident at angle ‘i’ on the first face AB of the prism at a point. N1PN is
the normal to this face. The material of the prism is denser with respect
to air, as such the ray will refract in the direction PQ making an angle
‘r1’ with the normal reaching the second face AC of the prism at the
point Q making an angle ‘r2’ with the normal N2QT. The ray emerging
in the direction QE bending away from the normal and making an angle
‘e’ with the normal.

If the incident ray IP be produced backwards to meet QE produced

at S, the angle KSQ is called the angle of deviation is represented by D.
Angle BAC is called the refracting angle of the prism and represented by
A.
To derive the relation:
A+D=i+e

In SPQ,
PS is produced to K.

KSQ or D is the external angle.

D= SPQ + SQP
 A

N1
K N2
S

i e
P r1 r2
Q

I E
T N
B C

E
D
Q1

P3 Emergent Ray
Incident Ray
P2 P4

P1
 D = i - r1 + e - r2

D = (i + e) – (r1 + r2) ........... (1)

r1 + r2 + PTQ = 180o

r1 + r2 = 180o - PTQ …………. (2)

Taking quadrilateral APTQ

ATP + AQT = 90o + 90o = 180o

A+ PTQ = 180o

A = 180o - PTQ …………. (3)

From (2) and (3)

r1 + r2 = A ………. (4)

From (1) and (4)

D=i+e- A

A+ D=i+e
 When the angle of deviation ‘D’ has minimum value ‘Dm’ the following
conditions are fulfilled:

i+e
And r1 - r2 = r (say)
Applying these conditions in eq. (2) and (3)

A = 2r
A
Or r = ………. (5)
2

And A + Dm = 2i
A + Dm
Or i = ---------- ……….. (6)
2

Sin i
Since μ = ------
Sin r

Sin (A + Dm)/ 2
μ = ----------------------- ----------------- (7)
Sin (A/2)
 Thus we find that we ca use the relation (7) for determining the
refractive index. The experiment thus consists of finding of the value of
the refractive angle of minimum deviation ‘Dm’.

For finding the value of ‘Dm’ a curve is plotted between the

angles of incidence ‘i’ and their respective angles of deviation ‘D’.

PROCEDURE
1. Fix the sheet of white paper on drawing board with cello tape or
drawing pins.

2. Draw a straight line XY nearly at the centre of the sheet parallel

to its length. Mark points marked as O at suitable spacing on the
line XY and draw normal to line XY at point O. Draw straight
line PQ corresponding to the incident rays that are drawn at the
angles of incidence ranging from 30o to 60o i.e., for angles 35o,
40o, 45o, 50o, 55o & 60o using a protector.

3. Fill the liquid from open end of prism.

4. Fix two pins P and Q about 8cm on the incident ray line and view
its image with one eye closed from the side of BC of the prism.
Fix two pins R and S on the paper such that the tips of these pins
and the tips of these images of the incident ray pins, all lie on the
same straight line.

5. Join the points (i.e., pin pricks) S and R. Produce it backward to

meet the incident ray PQ produced. Thus RS is the emergent ray
 corresponding to the incident ray PQ. Draw arrow heads to show
the direction of rays.

6. Measure the angle of deviation ‘D’ with protector.

7. Repeat at steps (4 to 8) for different liquids having different
value of angle of incidence and measure the corresponding
angles of deviation ‘D’. Take at least three values from 30o and
40o.

8. Now place the prism on separate sheet of paper or on the same

sheet at a suitable place and trace its triangular boundary with a
sharp pencil. Measure the angle ‘A’ of the triangle so traced with
the help of protector.

9. Record your observation table.

PRECAUTIONS
1. A sharp pencil should be used for drawing the boundary of the
prism.
2. The separation between the pins should not be less than 8 cm.
3. The angle of incidence should lie between 30o and 45o.
4. The same and prism should be used for all observations. So an
ink mark should be placed on it to distinguish it as a refracting
angle ‘A’ of the prism.
5. The pins should have sharp tips and fixed vertically and the pin
pricks should be encircle immediately after they are removed.
6. Proper arrow should be drawn to indicate the incident, the
refracted and the emergent rays.A smooth curve passing
practically through all the plotted points should be drawn.
 OBSERVATIONS

1. FOR WATER (H2O)

Serial No. ANGLE OF INCIDENCE ANGLE OF

DEVIATION
1. 35 o 24o
2. 40o 22o
3. 45o 21o
4. 50o 20o
5. 55o 25o

2. FOR GLYCERINE:

Serial No. ANGLE OF INCIDENCE ANGLE OF

DEVIATION
1. 35 o 38o
2. 40o 35o
3. 45o 34o
4. 50o 36o
5. 55o 40o
 3. FOR BENZENE

Serial No. ANGLE OF INCIDENCE ANGLE OF

DEVIATION
i. 35 o 37o
ii. 40o 33o
iii. 45o 36o
iv. 50o 39o
v. 55o 41o

4. FOR PETROL

Serial No. ANGLE OF INCIDENCE ANGLE OF

DEVIATION
i. 40 o 42o
ii. 45o 40o
iii. 50o 41o
iv. 55o 43o

CALCULATIONS
Formula applied:

Sin (A + Dm)/ 2
μ = -----------------------
Sin (A/2)
1. WATER

Sin (60 + 20)/ 2 Sin 40o

μ = ----------------------- = -----------
Sin (60/2) Sin 30o

0.665
μ = ---------- = μ = 1.33
0.5
 2. GLYCERINE

Sin (60 +34)/ 2 Sin 47o

μ = ----------------------- = -----------
Sin (60/2) Sin 30o

0.7314

μ = ---------- = μ = 1.4628
0.5

3. BENZENE:
Sin (60 +33)/ 2 Sin 46.5o
μ = ----------------------- = ----------
Sin (60/2) Sin 30

0.7254

μ = ---------- = μ = 1.4808
0.5
4. PETROL:

Sin (60 +40)/ 2 Sin 50 o

μ = ----------------------- = -----------
Sin (60/2) Sin 30o

0.7660

μ = ---------- = μ = 1.5320

0.5
 Result

1. The angle of deviation ‘D’ first decreases with the increase in the
angle of incidence, attains a minimum value and then increase
with further increase in angle of incidence.

2. The refractive index of:-

Water = 1.33
Glycerin = 1.4628
Benzene = 1.4808
Petrol = 1.5320
This is to certify that this project work is submitted by P.Praveen Kumar

of class XII A. He has worked on the project Refractive Index of

Different Liquids using Hollow Glass Prism under guidance of Mr.

Mukesh Sharma. The candidate has successfully completed His project

work with dedication & his Project work may be considered as Partial

fulfillment of AISSCE 2015-2016.

Mr. S. S Thaper Mr. Mukesh sharma

Principal HOD Physics