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This is the reflection and refraction lab - it verifies Snell's law
The apparatus consists of a laser - that white thing right there and this table
that allows you to measure angles
of the direction of propagation of the laser light
So you begin by lining up the laser light with zero degrees
the laser should follow this zero degree line and pass through at zero degrees
you might want to move things around and align them - the closer the better
So the light comes in at zero degrees with the perpendicular to the glass - passes through at zero degrees - and is reflected at zero degrees
you can see the reflected beam right here if you look
so you have zero degrees incident (theta 1)- zero degrees reflected (theta 1 prime) and zero degree transmitted (theta 2)
that is your first data point - record that
then you move the incident angle to 10 degrees - there is a little handle underneath that allows you to rotate the table without touching it - it makes things a little more stable
so I align this so it is coming in at 10 degrees - the reflected beam is also about 10 degrees
and there is a refracted or transmitted beam coming out here and i measure that angle
then I do 20 degrees - 30 degrees etc up to 70 degrees
each time measuring the direction of the reflected beam and the transmitted or refracted beam
this is the video lab procedure to find the index of refraction in the reflection and refraction lab
in any of the computers in the lab you will see an icon on the desktop that says physics folder - click on that
you will find another icon in there that says index of refraction - clicking on this will open a program
that finds the index of refraction you need to complete your lab
when this program starts up you will need to enter your theta 1 and theta 2 values
the program is already set up to find the sine of theta 1 and the sine of theta 1 graph them - find the slope which is the index of refraction according to snell's law
if you are a college physics or engineering physics student you will have done this twice - once for glass and once for water
to add another data set - click on data
come down and click on 'new data set'
this will allow you to enter an entirely new set of data for water