Hurumanu - Science - Reflection/Refraction

Investigating Refraction - Bending Light

Aim: To investigate how light is affected by changing the substances it is travelling through.

Equipment:

• Ray box
• Power source
• glass or perspex block
• Single-slit ray slide

Method:

Collect the equipment from your teacher and set them up to produce a single beam of light.

Key Words:

Reflection - The bouncing back of a wave when it hits a surface through which it cannot pass. 

Refraction - The bending of a wave as it passes at an angle from one medium to another.

Incident ray - The incoming ray.

Reflected ray - The light ray that bounces off a surface.

Refracted ray - The ray that has bent as it enters a new medium. 

Normal line - Imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the surface of a mirror or any surface. 

Angel - The amount of bending that a light ray experiences. 

1. 

Angle of Incidence	Angle of Refraction
10 degrees	6
20 degrees	13
30 degrees	19
40 degrees	23

2.

Angle of Incidence	Angle of Refraction
10 degrees	7
20 degrees	14
30 degrees	20
40 degrees	24

Investigating Refraction Through Lenses - Refraction through lenses

Aim: To investigate how different types of lenses refract light. 

Equipment: 

• Triple-slit ray slide
• Power supply

Method: 

1. Set up a ray box, triple-slit ray slide and power supply. 
2. Place the convex lens in the space below. Place the ray box at the top of the page and shine the three rays of light at the lens. Make sure the central light ray hits the lends at 90 degrees as indicated in the diagram. 
3. Carefully trace the direction of the incoming and refracted rays.
4. Repeat using the concave lens. 

When light passes through a concave lens, the rays converge.

When light passes through a convex lens, the rays diverge.