PHYSICS PROJECT

ON
REFRACTIVE INDEX OF LIQUID
USING CONVEX LENS

S. KEERTHANA
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We hereby acknowledge all those people, who have helped for successful
completion of our project to a great extent.

We would also like to convey our sincere gratitude to our principal, and the D.A.V
School management for providing us with complete access to all materials and
information sources available in the physics laboratory.

We express our deepest gratitude to our Physics teacher for her

encouragement during our project ‘Refractive Index of Liquid using Convex
Lens’.

We would also like to extend our thanks to lab teachers for their cooperation.
We also would like to thank our parents and friends who helped us a lot in
finishing this project
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO CONTENTS PG.NO

1 ABSTRACT 1

2 INTRODUCTION 2

3 AIM 6

4 THEORY 7

5 DIAGRAMS 8

6 PROCEDURE 9

7 OBSERVATION TABLE 11

8 CALCULATIONS 12

9 PRECAUTIONS 13

10 SOURCES OF ERROR 13

11 RESULT 13

12 INFERENCE 14

13 APPLICATIONS OF DETERMINING REFRACTIVE INDEX OF LIQUID 14

14 BIBLIOGRAPHY 15
 ABSTRACT

In Optics, the refractive index of a material n is a dimensionless number which describes how

n = c/v

Light propagate through a medium.

Where c is the speed of light in vacuum and v is the velocity of light in the medium.
For example, the refractive index of liquid is 1.33 which means light travels 1.33 times faster in
vacuum that it does in water.
The refractive index determines how much light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material.
When light moves from one medium to another, it changes its direction, i.e., it is refracted.
If i is the angle of incidence of a ray in vacuum and r is the angle of refraction, the refractive
index n is defined as the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of
refraction.
n=sin i/sin r

In this project, we aim to find the refractive index of liquid using convex lens and plane mirror
by finding focal length of the combination of convex lens and plano-concave liquid lens and
calculate liquid refractive index.

1
 INTRODUCTION
REFRACTION
Refraction is the bending of a wave when it passes from one medium to another. The bending is
caused due to the differences in density between the two substances. It is defined by,
“Refraction is the change in the direction of a wave passing from one medium to another.”
Refraction of light is one of the most commonly observed phenomena, but other waves like
sound waves and water waves also experience refraction. Refraction makes it possible for us to
have optical instruments such as magnifying glasses, lenses and prisms. It is also because of the
refraction of light that we are able to focus light on our retina.

CAUSES OF REFRACTION
Change of Speed Results in Change in Direction
A light ray refracts whenever it travels at an angle into a medium of different refractive indices.
This change in speed results in a change in direction. As an example, consider air travelling into
water. The speed of light decreases as it continues to travel at a different angle.

Fig. 1

The refraction of light in glass is shown in the figure above. When light travels from air into
glass, the light slows down and changes direction slightly. When light travels from a less dense
substance to a denser substance, the refracted light bends more towards the normal line. If the
light wave approaches the boundary in a perpendicular direction, the light ray doesn’t refract
despite the change in speed.
2
 LAWS OF REFRACTION
Laws of refraction state that:

 The incident ray refracted ray, and the normal to the interface of two media at the point of
incidence all lie on the same plane.
 The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is
constant. This is also known as Snell’s law of refraction.

In 1621, Willebrord Snell discovered the law of refraction, called Snell’s law.

. Willebrord Snell Vector form of Snell’s Law

Fig. 2

REFRACTIVE INDEX
The refractive index, also called the index of refraction, describes how fast light travels through
the material.
The refractive Index is dimensionless. For a given material, the refractive index is the ratio
between the speed of light in a vacuum (c) and the speed of light in the medium (v). If the
refractive index for a medium is represented by n, then it is given by the following formula:

3
Based on the refractive index of the medium, the light ray changes its direction, or it bends at the
junction separating the two media. If the light ray travels from one medium to another of a
higher refractive index, it bends towards the normal else it bends away from the normal.

REFRACTION OF LIGHT IN REAL LIFE

 Mirage and looming are optical illusions resulting from refraction of light.
 A swimming pool always looks shallower than it really is because the light coming from
the bottom of the pool bends at the surface due to refraction of light.
 Formation of a rainbow is an example of refraction as the sun rays bend through the
raindrops resulting in the rainbow.
 When white light passes through a prism it is split into its component colours – red,
orange, yellow, green, blue and violet due to refraction of light.

Fig. 3

APPLICATION IN OPTICS

Refraction has many applications in optics and technology. A few of the prominent applications
are listed below:

 A lens uses refraction to form an image of an object for various purposes, such as
magnification.
 Spectacles worn by people with defective vision use the principle of refraction.
 Refraction is used in peepholes of house doors, cameras, movie projectors and telescopes.

4
 REFRACTION OF LENS
In optics, the relationship between the distance of the image (v), the distance of the object (u),
and the focal length (f) of the lens is given by the formula known as the Lens formula. The Lens
formula is applicable for convex as well as concave lenses. These lenses have negligible
thickness. The formula is as follows:

POWER OF LENS
The power of a lens in Ray Optics is its ability to bend light. The greater the power of a lens, the
greater its ability to refract light that passes through it. For a convex lens, the converging ability
is defined by power and in a concave lens, the diverging ability.
Units of power of a lens: The units of the power of a lens are diopters.
One diopter is the power of a lens of one meter focal length. The power of a lens is denoted by
D. It is this dioptric number which the doctors prescribe for the spectacles of a person.

COMBINATION OF LENS
If n no of lens were present, the equation is written as,

Fig. 4

5
 AIM

To find refractive index of a liquid using convex lens and plane mirror.

APPARATUS REQUIRED

 A Convex Lens
 A Plane Mirror
 Spherometer
 Optical Needle
 Liquid-Water
 An iron stand with base
 Meter Scale

Fig. 5

6
 THEORY

When a convex lens is placed over some drops of the given liquid on a plane mirror, a plano-
concave liquid lens is formed between the lens and the mirror.

If f1 is the focal length of the convex lens and F is the focal length of the combination of convex
lens and plano-concave liquid lens, the focal length of the liquid lens f2 is given by,

If R is the radius curvature of the face of the convex lens which is in contact with
the liquid, then the refractive index of the liquid is,

7
DIAGRAM

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

8
 PROCEDURE

For the focal length of the convex lens,

 Choose a convex lens and find its rough focal length.

 Place the plane mirror on the horizontal base of the iron stand
 Place the convex lens on the plane mirror
 Screw tight the optical needle in the clamp of the stand and hold it horizontally above the
lens at a distance equal to its rough focal length.
 Bring the tip of the needle to the principal vertical axis of the lens so the tip of the needle
appears to be touching the tip of its image.
 Move the needle up and down and remove the parallax between the tips of the needle and
its image.
 Measure the distance between the tip and upper surface of the lens using a plumb line and
half meter scale.
 Also, measure the distance between the tip and the surface of its plane mirror 
For the focal length of the combination,

 Take a few drops of transparent liquid on the plane mirror and put a convex mirror over
it.
 Repeat 6, 7 and 8.
 Record your observations.

Fig. 9

9
For the radius of curvature of the convex lens

 Raise the central screw of the spherometer and press the spherometer gently on the
practical notebook so as to get pricks off the three legs. Mark these pricks as A, B, and C.
 Measure the distance between the pricks by joining the points to form a triangle ABC.
 Note these distances (AB, BC, AC) in the notebook and take their mean.
 Find the value of one vertical pitch scale division.
 Determine the pitch and the least count of the spherometer and record it.
 Raise the screw sufficiently upwards.
 Place the spherometer on the convex surface so that its three legs rest on it.
 Gently, turn the screw downwards till the screw tip just touches the convex surface.
 Note the reading of the circular scale which is in line with the vertical pitch scale.
 Remove the spherometer from over the convex surface and place it over a large size plane
glass slab.
 Turn the screw downwards and count the number of complete rotations made by the disc.
 Continue till the tip of the screw just touches the plane surface of the glass slab.
 Note the reading of the circular scale which is finally in line with the vertical pitch scale.
 Find the number of circular scale divisions in the last incomplete rotation.
 Repeat steps 6 to 14.
 Record the observation in tabular form.

Fig. 10

10
 OBSERVATION TABLE

(i) To find the focal length of Plano concave lens f2

SNO DISTANCE OF LENS DISTANCE OF LENS
FROM THE TOP FROM THE TOP WITH
WITHOUT LIQUID LIQUID

f1(cm) F(cm) (cm)

1 19.7 32.7 -49.553

(ii) To find radius of curvature of convex lens using spherometer

L.C=0.01×103 m Z.E=Z.C=0
SNO MAIN CIRCULAR CORRECTED CIRCULAR TOTAL
SCALE SCALE CIRCULAR SCALE SCALE
READING DIVISION SCALE READING READING
MSR CSD DIVISION CSR TSR
CCSD
CCSD=CSD±ZC CSR=CCSD×LC TSR=CSR+MSR
(div) (div) (div) (mm) (mm)
PLANE
MIRROR
0 13 13 0.13 0.13

CONVEX
LENS
1 44 44 0.44 1.44

11
 CALCULATION
For the focal length of Plano concave lens f2,

f2=19.7×32.7

19.7 - 32.7
f2= -49.553 cm
For the radius of curvature of convex lens,
Thickness h=1.44-0.13=1.31
Distance between legs of Spherometer l= 3.5cm
Radius is given by,

R= (3.5)2 + 1.31

6×1.31 2

R= 16.4 cm
We find refractive index of liquid by,

= 1 + (- 16.4 )
(-49.55)

=1 + 0.327

= 1.33
The refractive index of liquid (water) is 1.33

12
 PRECAUTIONS

 Only a few drops of liquid should be taken so as not to thicken the layer.
 The parallax should be removed tip to tip.
 The liquid taken should be transparent.
 The mirror and surface of water must be clean.
 The needle should be clamped properly in horizontal position.

SOURCES OF ERROR

 The liquid may not be quite transparent.

 The parallax may not be fully removed.
 The needle may not be proper horizontal.

RESULT
The refractive index of liquid (water) is determined by using convex lens and plane mirror and
is found to be 1.33

13
 INFERENCE
We thereby, infer from our project that the refractive index of any such liquids can be found by
using the concept of combination of lens and mirror, finding the focal length of convex lens and
combination of plano concave liquid lens, mirror respectively and by calculating the refractive
index by the given formula,

Our Project has also enhanced our knowledge in the concepts of combination of lens and mirror
(plano concave liquid lens) and learning to remove parallax error etc.

APPLICATION OF DETERMINING THE REFRACTIVE INDEX OF

LIQUID

Fig. 11

The refractive index of a liquid carries important information about its physical properties,
including concentration and density, thus making it possible to determine and monitor the
composition of the solution.

This is important in fundamental research, chemical analysis and medical diagnostics, as well as
in the processing and manufacturing of various substances.

Refractive index is an important optical parameter that can be used to characterize the
physicochemical properties of pharmaceutical solids. It is used to calculate the focusing power
of lenses, and the dispersive power of prisms.

14
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Physics Lab Manual – S.L Arora

 https://byjus.com/physics/determine-refractive-index-of-liquid-using-convex-lens
 https://amrita.olabs.edu.in

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