Question

Sunlight passes into a raindrop at an angle of 22.5° from the normal at one point on the droplet. what is the angle of refraction?

Answer 1

Snell's law states that: Sin Фi = n Sin Фr. Where Фi= Incidence angle, Фr = refractive angle or angle of refraction and n= refractive index. For water, n=1.33

In this case, Фi=22.5°

Then, Sin 22.5 = 1.33 Sin Фr => Sin Фr= (Sin 22.5)/1.33 =0.2877

Фr= Sin^- (0.2877) = 16.72°

Answer 2

The angle of refraction is 16.7°

Step-by-step explanation:

The Snell´s law is:

(sinθi/sinθr)=nr/ni

Where θi is the angle of incidence, θr is the angle of refraction, ni is the first refractive index and nr is the second refractive index. Clearing θr:

θr=sin^-1((ni*sinθi)/nr))=sin^-1((1000*sin22.5)/1.333)=16.7°