Question

State and explain Snell’s law.

Answer 1

Snell’s Law:

1. Snell’s law gives the degree of refraction and relation between the angle of incidence, the angle of refraction, and refractive indices of a given pair of media.
2. We know that light experiences refraction or bending when it travels from one medium to another medium.
3. Snell’s law predicts the degree of the bend.
4. It is also known as the law of refraction.
5. Snell’s law is defined as “The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant, for the light of a given color and for the given pair of media”.
6. Snell’s law formula is expressed as:

$\begin{array}{l}\frac{sini}{sinr}=constant={\mu }_1^2\end{array}$, Where i is the angle of incidence and r is the angle of refraction. This constant value is called the refractive index of the second medium with respect to the first.

Diagram:

The following is a diagrammatic representation:

$\frac{\sin i}{\sin r}=\frac{n_2}{n_1}$ where $n_2$ is the refractive index of the second medium and $n_1$ is the refractive index of the first medium.