Question

How does density affect refraction?

Diamonds are a very dense material. Predict what would happen to the light ray if you projected it from air through a diamond.



Explain where you observe reflection, refraction, and absorption of light in your everyday activities.

Answer 1

Optically denser object usually has a higher refractive index. A higher refractive index causes light to refract more and total internal refraction is easier to occur. Direct a light in to the diamond and the light is first refracted into the diamond, and then total internal refraction reflects the light back out and into our eyes.

Answer 2

1. When light passes from a more dense to a less dense substance the light is refracted.

2. The diamond would act like a prism and make rainbows.

3. You observe all of these pretty much every day. Like if you notice how on a glass building it reflects the sunlight and some other things around it. Then another example could be just shining a flash light in a room.

I do FLVS and I got a 100 on this assignment so I hope it helped a little :)