You have a layer of glass with a refractive index of 1.5 and the glass is surrounded by air. A light ray shines into the glass and Total Internal Reflection occurs at the glass-air boundary. What is the critical angle?

This question tests your knowledge of Snell's law, Total Internal Reflection (TIR) and the fact that the refractive index of air is 1 (which should be memorised as it is in the exam). The critical angle is the angle at which TIR occurs, which can be calculated with the equation from Snell's law that relates angle of incident and refraction with the two refractive indices. The trick here is to use the angle of refraction as 90 degrees to apply the condition of TIR.

KC
Answered by Kelvin C. Physics tutor

3115 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

Why does current split between branches of a parallel circuit, but voltage remains the same for each branch?


A ball of mass 0.7 kg strikes the wall at an angle of 90 degrees with speed 72 km/h. Consider that the bounce lasts for 0.1 s and is perfectly elastic. What is the magnitude of the average reaction force from the wall that acts on the ball?


What are Newton's 3 laws of motion?


An electron moving at 1000 m/s annihilates with a stationary positron. What is the frequency of the single photon produced?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences