Question

A beam of light is incident on a flat piece of polystyrene at an angle of 60.46o relative to a surface normal. What angle does the refracted ray make with the plane of the surface ?

Answer 1

Apply Snell's law:

n1 sin a1 = n2 sin a2

Where

n = index of refraction

a = angle

Index of refraction of polyestyrene: 1.55

Replacing:

1 sin 60.46 = 1.55 sin a

arc sin [(1 sin 60.46)/1.55 ]=a

a = 34.14°