In the fulfilment of AISSCE-2025

A Project on
Refraction through Prism
for Physics (042)

Submitted By Submitted To
Kushagra Yadav Mr. Pawan Agnihotri
Roll No.
 Certificate

This is to clarify that Kushagra Yadav of class

12th A has successfully completed the project in
physics on topic ‘Refraction through Prism’ in the
fulfilment of AISSCE-2025 for the Subject
Physics (042) during the academic year
2024-2025.

Subject In-charge External Principal

 Acknowledgement

Primarily I would Thank GOD, THAT WHO IS for being able to

complete this project with success. Then I would like to thank
my Parents who helped me with their valuable suggestions.

Then I would like to thank our Principal Ma’am Mrs. Bhavna

Singh and my Physics Teacher Mr Pawan Agnihotri whose
guidance has been the ones that helped me patch my project
with success.

Last but not the least I would like to thank my friends and
classmates who helped me a lot.

Kushagra Yadav
INDEX

[Link]. CONTENT
1. Introduction
2. Prism and Nature of Light
3. How does a prism work ?
4. Refraction
5. Prism Formula
6. Experiment
INTRODUCTION

In optics, a prism is a transparent optical element with flat,

polished surfaces that refract light. The exact angles between
the surfaces depend on the application. The traditional
geometrical shape is that of a triangular prism with a triangular
base and rectangular sides, and in colloquial use "prism"
usually refers to this type. Some types of optical prisms are not
in fact in the shape of geometric prisms. Prisms can be made
from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for
which they are designed. Typical materials include glass,
plastic and fluorite. A prism can be used to break light up into
its constituent spectral colours (the colours of the rainbow).
Prisms can also be used to reflect light, or to split light into
components with different polarizations.
Prism and Nature of Light

Before Isaac Newton, it was believed that white light was

colourless, and that the prism itself produced the colour.
Newton's experiments demonstrated that all the colours already
existed in the light in a heterogeneous fashion, and that
"corpuscles" (particles) of light were fanned out because
particles with different colours travelled with different speeds
through the prism. It was only later that Young and Fresnel
combined Newton's particle theory with Huygen's wave theory
to show that colour is the visible manifestation of light's
wavelength. Newton arrived at his conclusion by passing the
red colour from one prism through a second prism and found
the colour unchanged. From this, he concluded that the colours
must already be present in the incoming light thus the prism did
not create colours, but merely separated colors that are already
there. He also used a lens and a second prism to recompose
the spectrum back into white light. This experiment has become
a classic example of the methodology introduced during the
scientific revolution. The results of this experiment dramatically
transformed the field of metaphysics, leading to John Locke's
primary vs secondary quality distinction. Newton discussed
prism dispersion in great detail in his book Opticks. A
quantitative were introduced in the 1980s
How does a prism work ?

Light changes speed as it moves from one medium to another

(for example, from air into the glass of the prism). This speed
change causes the light to be refracted and to enter the new
medium at a different angle (Huygens principle). The degree of
bending of the light's path depends on the angle that the
incident beam of light makes with the surface, and on the ratio
between the refractive indices of the two media (Snell's law).
The refractive index of many materials (such as glass) varies
with the wavelength or colour of the light used, a phenomenon
known as dispersion. This causes light of different colours to be
refracted differently and to leave the prism at different angles,
creating an effect similar to a rainbow. This can be used to
separate a beam of white light into its constituent spectrum of
colours. Prisms will generally disperse light over a much larger
frequency bandwidth than diffraction gratings, making them
useful for broad-spectrum spectroscopy. Furthermore, prisms
do not suffer from complications arising from overlapping
spectral orders, which all gratings have. Prisms are sometimes
used for the internal reflection at the surfaces rather than for
dispersion. If light inside the prism hits one of the surfaces at a
sufficiently steep angle, total internal reflection occurs and all of
the light is reflected. This makes a prism a useful substitute for
a mirror in some situations.
REFRACTION

In a homogenous medium, light travels along a straight line. But

whenever it falls on the 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 two media is called refraction of light.

Cause of Refraction:

The 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 reflected ray, the incident ray, and the normal at

the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
2. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of
reflection.
3. For any two given media the ratio sin i / sin r is a
constant (where i is the angle of incidence, r is the
angle of refraction). This is also called Snell's Law.

Refractive Index:

For a monochromatic light, the ratio of the sine of the

angle of incidence to the angle of refraction is a constant
for two given media in contact. If "i" is the angle of
incidence and "r" the angle of refraction then sin i / sin r =
constant.
 This constant is called the refractive index. For most
purposes it may be assumed that the refractive index is
represented. air. When light travels from rarer to denser
medium it bends towards the normal and when it travels
from denser to rarer medium it bends away from the
normal. It has been experimentally determined that
refractive index of a substance,
μ=c/v
c = the speed of light in vacuum
v = the speed of light in the substance

Refractive Edge:

The line of interaction of the edges of the planes is known as

the refractive edge of the prism.

Angle of Deviation:

The angle through which the incident ray of light is deviated is

called the angle of deviation. It is the angle between the
emergent ray and the incident ray produced.

Angle of Minimum Deviation:

As the value of the angle of incidence (i) increases, the angle of

deviation (d) decreases till for a particular value of angle of
incidence, it attains a minimum value 'Dm' called the angle of
minimum deviation and then increases again. At this angle
(Dm) the incident ray and the emergent ray are symmetrical
w.r.t. the refracting surfaces.
Critical Angle:

It is that angle of incidence in the denser medium for which the

corresponding angle of refraction in the rarer medium is 90
degrees.
μ = 1/sinc, where
μ = Refractive Index
c = critical angle
Relation between refractive index and critical angle according
to Snell's Law: bμa = sin i / sin r where i = c and r = 90°
bμa = sin c / sin 90° = sin c
But bμa = 1 / aμb
i. e. 1/ aμb sin c or aμb = 1/sin c

Prism Formula
Let ABC represent a section of the glass prism and let L be a
ray incident at an angle "I" on the first face AB of the prism at a
point "E". NN' is normal to this face. The material of the prism is
denser with respect to air, as such the ray would refract in the
direction EF making an angler with the normal, reaching the
second face AC of the prism at the point F making an angle e
with the normal MM'. The ray emerges in the direction FS
bending away from the normal making an angle "e" with the
normal. If the incident ray PE be produced forwards to meet FS
(also to be produced backwards) at G then the angle HGF is
called the angle of deviation and is represented by D. Angle
"BAC" is called the refracting angle of the prism and
represented by "A".
From the figure it can be proved:
D = (I+e) - (r1+r2) (using exterior angle property of a triangle)

A = (r1+r2)

Therefore A + D = I + e; when angle of deviation D has the

minimum value Dm, the following conditions are fulfilled

I = e and r1 = r2 = r (say)

Applying these conditions in the equation

A = 2r Or r = A/2 A + Dm = 21 I = (A + Dm) / 2
Since 1μ2 = (sin i) / (sin r) *1μ = (sin(A + Dm)/ 2) / (sin A / 2)
EXPERIMENT
AIM:

To find out the refractive indices of different liquids using a

hollow prism and to find the speed of light in given transparent
fluids.

APPARATUS:

● Hollow glass prism

● Drawing board
● Pins
● Metre scale
● Protractor
● Sheets of white paper
● Various liquids
(a) Water
(b) Vinegar
(c) Vegetable Oil

THEORY:

Light is an electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human

eye usually having a wavelength in the range of 400 nm to 700
nm between the infrared, with longer wavelengths and the
ultraviolet with the shorter wavelength. The speed of light in
vacuum is found to be exactly 299, 792, 458 m/s. Observable
events that result from the interaction of light and matter are
called optical phenomena. Refraction is a surface phenomenon
due to a change in its transmission medium.
When a ray of light passes from one medium into the other, it
either bends towards the normal or away from the normal in the
second medium. This phenomenon is known as the refraction
of light. A prism is a transparent optical element with flat,
polished surfaces that refract light. Prisms can be made from
any material that is transparent including glass, plastic and
fluorite. A prism can be used to break light up into its
constituent spectral colours. Prisms can also be used to reflect
light, or to split light into components with different
polarizations. 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 w.r. t. the first.
It is represented by -
2µl = sin i / sin r.
The value of the angle of incidence "i" can be obtained in the
terms of the refracting angle "A" of the prism and the angle of
minimum deviation "Dm" and the angle of refraction "R" can
also be obtained in terms of the refracting angle "A" of the
prism. Thus we find that we can use the above relation derived
for determining the refractive index. The experiment thus
consists in finding the value of the refracting angle "A" of the
prism and the value of the angle of minimum deviation Dm. The
refractive index of the liquid Is given by the formula:

µ = (sin(A + Dm)/2) / (sin A/2)

For finding the value of Dm a curve is plotted between angles

of incidence (i) and their respective angles of deviations (d).

PROCEDURE:

1. For finding the angle of prism

● Take a piece of white paper, fix it on a drawing board using

board pins.
● Place the hollow glass prism on the sheet and carefully
draw its outline. Draw a normal and carefully draw its
outline.
● Draw a normal and an incident ray at an angle of 35
degrees with the normal on side AB of the prism.
● Fix two pins P1 and P2 on the incident ray which are at
least 5 cm apart.
● Fill the prism with water and place it over its outline.
Observe the refracted ray that comes after refraction from
the face AB of the prism.
● Fix two more pins P3 and P4 to cover the image of P1 and
P2.
 ● Obtained angles r1 and r2 and added them to obtain the
angle of the prism.

2. For finding the angle of minimum deviation

● Fix a white sheet of paper on a drawing board using board

pins.
● Place a hollow glass prism on the sheet and carefully draw
its outline. Draw a normal and an incident ray of angle of
incidence 35 degrees on the side AB of the prism.
● Fix two pins P1 and P2 on the incident ray at least 5 cm
apart.
● Fill the hollow prism with water and place it over its drawn
outline. Observe the refracted ray which comes after
refraction by placing two more pins P3 and P4 covering P1
and P2.
● Extended the incident and refracted the ray to obtain the
angle of deviation, D.
● Repeat the above procedure taking other liquids and the
angles of incidence as 40° 45° 50° 55° and 60°. Note the
lowest obtained value of angle of deviation as the angle of
minimum deviation, Dm.
● Using the value of the angle of prism (A) and the angle of
minimum deviation (Dm), calculate the value of the
refractive index of the liquids by using the equation given
in the theory.
● Select suitable scales to represent the angle of incidence
along the X-axis and angle of deviation along the Y-axis
and plot a graph. The graph gives the value of Dm, which
is the minimum most point of the parabola.
WATER

[Link]. Angle of Incidence Angle of Derivation

1. 35° 25°
2. 40° 24°
3. 45° 23°
4. 50° 25°
5. 55° 27°
6. 60° 28°

VINEGAR

[Link]. Angle of Incidence Angle of Derivation

1. 35° 26°
2. 40° 25°
3. 45° 23.3°
4. 50° 25°
5. 55° 27°
6. 60° 28°
VEGETABLE OIL

[Link]. Angle of Incidence Angle of Derivation

1. 35° 49°
2. 40° 39°
3. 45° 34°
4. 50° 36°
5. 55° 39°
6. 60° 40°

OBSERVATION:

CALCULATIONS:
1. Refractive index of liquids
Angle of prism (A) = 60°
Formula used: µ = (sin ((A+Dm)/2) / (sin (A/2))

Water:

Dm = 23°
Therefore μ = sin 41.5/ sin 30 = 0.6626/0.5 = 1.3252

Vinegar:

Dm = 23.5°
Therefore μ = sin 41.25 / sin 30 = 0.6593/0.5 = 1.3186
 Vegetable Oil:

Dm = 34°
Therefore μ = sin 41.25 / sin 30 = 0.6593/0.5 = 1.3186

S. Liquid Speed of light v= Speed of

No c/n (m/s) light(m/s)
1. Water 3*108 / 1.3252 2.26*108
2. Vinegar 3*108 / 1.3186 2.27*108
3. Vegetable 3*108 / 1.4626 2.05*108
Oil

RESULT

The refractive indexes of the four liquids were found to be as

follows:-
● Water, μ = 1.3252
● Vinegar, μ = 1.3186
● Vegetable Oil, μ = 1.4628

The speeds of light in the four liquids were found to be as

follows:-
● Water, v = 2.26 * 108 m/s
● Vinegar, v = 2.27 * 108 m/s
● Vegetable oil, v = 2.05 * 108 m/s
PRECAUTIONS

● The position of the prism should not be disturbed on the

white sheet.
● There should be no parallax between the pins P1, P2 and
their images P3, P4.
● The angles should be measured carefully.
● The curve of the graph should be smooth.

SOURCES OF ERROR

● Pin pricks may be thick

● Measurement of angles may be wrong