Question

water has an index of refraction of 1.33. What is the critical angle for light leaving a pool of water into air? 0 37 90 49

Answer 1

When light travels from a medium with higher refractive index into a medium with lower refractive index, there is a maximum angle (called critical angle) for which all the light is reflected, so there is no refraction.

The value of the critical angle is given by:

`\theta = \arcsin ( (n_2)/(n_1) )`
when n1 is the refractive index of the first medium, while n2 is the refractive index of the second medium. In our case, n1=1.33 (the water) and n1=1.00 (the air). Putting numbers in, we get

`\theta = \arcsin ( (1.00)/(1.33) )=49^(\circ)`