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Question

Which is a greater angle of incidence or angle of refraction ,when light travels from denser medium to rarer medium.


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Solution

1.When a ray of light travels from an optically denser medium to an optically rarer medium, it always bends away from the normal.
2. According to the Snell's law
μ1×sinθ1=μ2×sinθ2
Where θ1=angleofincidence, θ2=angleofrefraction
3.For an optically denser medium, refractive index μ1 is greater than that of the rarer medium μ2.
As μ1>μ2,

From the Snell's law,

sinθ2sinθ1=μ1μ2sinθ2sinθ1>1sinθ2>sinθ1

Therefore θ1<θ2
Thus, the angle of refraction has to be greater than the angle of incidence i.e. it bends away from the normal.


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