2017 ARMY PUBLIC SCHOOL NO.

Project Report
On
“Total Internal Reflection”

STUDENT’S NAME: Kartik Tyagi

CLASS: XII ‘B’
CBSE ROLL NO:
TEACHER IN CHARGE: Mrs. Nisha Maam
 CERTIFICATE
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT KARTIK TYAGI OF
CLASS 12TH B, STUDYING IN ARMY PUBLIC
SCHOOL NO.2, ROORKEE HAS SUCCESFULLY
COMPLETED THIS PHYSICS ASSIGNMENT.

TEACHER’S SIGNATURE

PRINCIPAL’S SIGNATURE

INVIGILATOR’S SIGNATURE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO
THANK WHOLE HEARTEDLY AND WITH DEEP SENSE
OF GRATITUDE TO OUR PHYSICS TEACHER MRS.
NISHA MAAM FOR HER CONSTANT
ENCOURAGEMENT, SUITABLE GUIDANCE AND KEEN
INTEREST DUE TO WHICH OUR EFFORTS WERE
SYNCHRONISED TO THE COMPLETION OF THIS
PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY.

-KARTIK TYAGI
 INTRODUCTION

Total internal reflection is the phenomenon which occurs

when a propagated wave strikes a medium boundary at
an angle larger than a particular critical angle with respect
to the normal to the surface. If the refractive index is
lower on the other side of the boundary and the incident
angle is greater than the critical angle, the wave cannot
pass through and is entirely reflected. The critical angle is
the angle of incidence above which the total internal
reflection occurs.
Demonstration of Total Internal Reflection
Total internal reflection of light can be demonstrated
using a semi-circular block of glass or plastic. A "ray box"
shines a narrow beam of light (a "ray") onto the glass
medium. The semi-circular shape ensures that a ray
pointing towards the centre of the flat face will hit the
curved surface at a right angle; this will prevent refraction
at the air/glass boundary of the curved surface. At the
glass/air boundary of the flat surface, what happens will
depend on the angle. If θc is the critical angle, then the
following scenarios depict what will happen according to
the size of the incident angle.
 If θ ≤ θc, the ray will split; some of the ray will reflect
off the boundary, and some will refract as it passes
through. This is not total internal reflection.
 If θ > θc, the entire ray reflects from the boundary.
None passes through. This is called total internal
reflection. TIR is the abbreviation.
This physical property makes optical fibers useful and
prismatic binoculars possible. It is also what gives
diamonds their distinctive sparkle, as diamond has an
unusually high refractive index.
What are the conditions necessary for Total Internal
Reflection?
Total Internal Reflection takes place only when:
1. Light should passes from denser medium to rare
medium.
2. The angle of incidence must be greater than the
critical angle.
CRITICAL ANGLE
The critical angle is the angle of incidence for which the
angle of refraction is 90°. The angle of incidence is
measured with respect to the normal at the refractive
boundary.Consider a light ray passing from glass into air.
The light emanating from the interface is bent towards
the glass. When the incident angle is increased
sufficiently, the transmitted angle (in air) reaches 90
degrees. It is at this point no light is transmitted into air.
The critical angle is given by Snell's law,

Rearranging Snell's Law, we get incidence

To find the critical angle, we find the value for when

90° and thus . The resulting value of is
equal to the critical angle .
Now, we can solve for , and we get the equation for the
critical angle:
If the incident ray is precisely at the critical angle, the
refracted ray is tangent to the boundary at the point of
incidence. If for example, visible light were traveling
through acrylic glass (with an index of refraction of
approximately 1.50) into air (with an index of refraction of
1.00), the calculation would give the critical angle for light
from acrylic into air, which is

Light incident on the border with an angle less than 41.8°

would be partially transmitted, while light incident on the
border at larger angles with respect to normal would be
totally internally reflected.
If the fraction is greater than 1, then arcsine is not
defined—meaning that total internal reflection does not
occur even at very shallow or grazing incident angles.
So the critical angle is only defined when is less than
or equal to 1.
APPLICATIONS
There are many applications of Total Internal Reflection.
Some are listed below:
1. Diamonds shine brightly due to total internal
reflection.
2. Total internal reflection is the operating principle of
optical fibers, which are used in endoscopes and
telecommunications.
3. Formation of the Mirage in the dry season.
4. Prism
5. Formation of the Rainbow.

Total Internal Reflection in Prism

Many optical instruments use right-angles prisms to

reflect a beam of light through 90 or 180 degree {by total
internal reflection} such as cameras, binoculars, periscope
and telescope. One of the angles of right angled prism is
90 degree. When a ray of light strikes a face of prism
perpendicular, it enters the prism without deviation and
strikes the hypotenuse at an angle of 45 degree. Since the
angle of incidence 45 degree is greater than critical angle
of the glass which is 42 degree, the light is totally
reflected by the prism through an angle of 90 degree. Two
such prisms are used in periscope. The light is totally
reflected by the prism by an angle of 180 degree. Two
such prisms are used in binoculars.
Total Internal Reflection in Diamonds

Diamonds achieve their brilliance partially from total

internal reflection because diamonds have a high
refractive index (about 2.3), the critical angle for the total
internal reflection is only about 25 degrees. Incident light
therefore strikes many of the internal surfaces before it
strikes one less than 25 degree and emerges. After many
such reflections, the colors in the light are separated, and
seen individually.
Total Internal Reflection in Optical fiber
In the late 20th century, a new practical application of
total internal reflection was found in the use of fiber
optics. If the light enters a solid glass or plastic tube
obliquely, the light can be totally reflected at the
boundary of the tube and, after a number of successive
total reflections, emerge from the other end. Glass fibers
can be drawn to a very small diameter, coated with a
material of lower refractive index, and then assembled
into flexible bundles or fused into plates of fibers used to
transmit images, telephone calls, video signals and
computer data. The reflective properties of fiber optic
strands make fiber optic cables more efficient than cables
that transmit signals electrically. The flexible bundles,
which can be used to provide illumination as well as to
transmit images, are valuable in medical examination, as
they can be inserted into various openings.
Total Internal Reflection in the formation of Mirage
It is due to the phenomena of 'total internal reflection'. On
a very hot day in a desert, the air just in contact with sand
is hotter than the air above it due to the high temperature of
sand. This causes the refractive index of the air in contact
with the sand to be lower than that of the air above it.
Thus, sunlight passes through a medium of higher
refractive index to that of lower refractive index.

At a particular angle, the angle of incidence becomes

greater than the critical angle and all the conditions of total
internal reflections are fulfilled. This causes the sunlight to
reflect from the interface of both the air columns itself
without touching the sand. Hence, it appears as a watery
surface from far off distances, also known as mirage.

While going nearer to the apparent water, the angle of

incidence of sunlight decreases and becomes less than the
critical angle. So, total internal reflection does not occur
for that point at that angle and hence the mirage
disappears.
Mirage is thus visible only when the distance from a point
is greater than a critical distance determined by the
refractive index of the air columns to satisfy the condition
of critical angle for total internal reflection to occur.
Total Internal Reflection in the formation of
Rainbow

The formation of a rainbow is a phenomenon due to

combined effect of dispersion, refraction and reflection of
sunlight by spherical water droplets of rain.

Conditions for observing a rainbow:

Sun should be shining in one part of the sky (say near

western horizon) while it is raining in the opposite part of
the sky (say eastern horizon).

An observer can therefore see a rainbow only when his

back is towards the sun.
Sunlight is first refracted as it enters a raindrop, which
causes the different wavelengths (colours) of white light to
separate.

Longer wave length of light (red) are bent the least while
the shorter wavelength (violet) are bent the most. These
component rays strike the inner surface of the water drop
and get internally reflected if the refracted angle is greater
than the critical angle (48º, in this case). The reflected light
is refracted again as it comes out of the drop.

The violet light emerges at an angle of 40º related to the

incoming sunlight and red light emerges at an angle of 42º.
For other colours, angles lie in between these two values.
Formation of secondary rainbow:

When light rays undergo two internal reflections inside a

raindrop, instead of one as in the primary rainbow, a
secondary rainbow is formed. It is due to four-step process.
The intensity of light is reduced at the second reflection
and hence the secondary rainbow is fainter than the
primary rainbow. Further, the order of the colours is
reversed in it
CONCLUSION
The project clearly explains the principle of the
“TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION”. It helped us to
understand the various applications of total
internal reflection. Further, while working on it,
we learned the logics and ideas behind the ray
optics and its applications.
Bibliography
1. www.wikipedia.com
2. www.google.com
3. HC Verma – Ray Optics
4. https://www.nextgurukul.in/nganswers/ask-
question/answer/ Applications-Of-Total-Internal-
Reflection/42548.html
5. PHYSICS NCERT-Ray Optics