Refraction Relationships
Connecting wave speed, wavelength, frequency, and bending across media
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Check Your Understanding
5 quick questions — pick an answer to see if you’re right.
1. When light passes from one medium into another, which property stays the same?
2. A wave enters a slower medium. What happens to its wavelength?
3. Light of wavelength 600 nm in air (n = 1.00) enters glass (n = 1.50). What is its wavelength in the glass?
4. A wave has a wavelength of 4 cm in medium A and 2 cm in medium B, with the same frequency. How does the speed in A compare to B?
5. Light hits a boundary between two media head-on (angle of incidence 0°). Which is true?
Identifying an Unknown Liquid
Students shine a laser from air into an unknown clear liquid and measure angles of incidence and refraction. Their data are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Refraction Data
| θair | sin θair | θliquid | sin θliquid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20.° | 0.34 | 14.5° | 0.25 |
| 40.° | 0.64 | 28° | 0.47 |
| 60.° | 0.87 | 40.° | 0.64 |
Based on the data, what is the index of refraction of the liquid?
▶ Want a challenge? Open 6 more Regents-style questions (harder · mixed formats)
Challenge score: 0 / 6
C1. Which graph best represents sin θair versus sin θliquid?
C2. A student makes the following claim.
Place a check mark in either the Support or Refute box. Justify your response using the data in Table 1.
C3. Substitute numerical values into a mathematical representation that can be used to determine the speed of light in the liquid. Then calculate the speed.
C4. Which source of error would most affect these measurements?
C5. The students run a fourth trial with θair = 30.°. Using the index of refraction found from Table 1, determine the expected angle of refraction in the liquid.
C6. Describe how the students could use a graph of their data to determine the index of refraction more reliably than from a single trial, and describe how the graph would be different if the liquid were glycerol (n = 1.47).