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प्रश्न
Explain ‘mirage’ as an illustration of refraction.
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उत्तर
- On a hot, clear, sunny day, along a level road, there appears a pond of water ahead of the road. However, if we physically reach the spot, there is nothing but the dry road, and the water pond again appears some distance ahead. This illusion is called a mirage.
- Mirages result from the refraction of light through a non-uniform medium.
- On a hot day the air in contact with the road is hottest, and as we go up, it gets gradually cooler. The refractive index of air thus decreases with height. Hot air tends to be less optically dense than cooler air, which results in a non-uniform medium.
- Light travels in a straight line through a uniform medium but refracts when travelling through a non-uniform medium.
- Thus, the ray of light coming from the top of an object gets refracted while travelling downwards into less optically dense air and becomes more and more horizontal, as shown in the figure.

- As it almost touches the road, it bends (refracts) upward. Then onwards, upward bending continues due to denser air.
- As a result, for an observer, it appears to be coming from below, thereby giving an illusion of reflection from an (imaginary) water surface.
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संबंधित प्रश्न
State the conditions required for total internal reflection of light to take place
Name the factors affecting the critical angle for the pair of media.
Total internal reflection occurs only when a ray of light passes from a ______ medium to a ______ medium.
In the given figure PQ and PR are the two light rays emerging from an object P. The ray PQ is refracted as QS.
- State the special name given to the angle of incidence ∠PQN of the ray PQ.
- What is the angle of refraction for the refracted ray QS?
- Name the phenomenon that occurs if the angle of incidence ∠PQN is increased.
- The ray PR suffers partial reflection and refraction on the water-air surface. Give reason.
- Draw in the diagram the refracted ray for the incident ray PR and hence show the position of image of the object P by the letter P’ when seen vertically from above.
Write the necessary conditions for the phenomenon of total internal reflection to
occur ?
Prove the statement.
A rainbow is the combined effect of the refraction, dispersion, and total internal reflection of light.
Plot a graph between
Sine of angle of incidence versus sine of angle of refraction,
Plot a graph between
Angle of incidence versus angle of refraction.
How does a ray of light bend when it travels from rarer to denser medium
How does a ray of light bend when it travels from when it is normal to the interface of the two media.
How are critical angles related to the refractive index of the medium?
Draw a diagram, properly labelled, to illustrate the use of a total reflecting prism (a right-angled isosceles prism) to turn a ray of light through 180°. Name an instrument in which this device is used.
Complete the following diagram to show the path of the ray of a single colour in the diagram as if enters in and emerges out of the prism. Mark the angles wherever necessary. (Critical angle for glass = 42°).

PQ and PR are two light rays emerging from the object as shown in the figure below:

(i) What is the special name given to the angle of incidence (∠PQN) of ray PQ?
(ii) Copy the ray diagram and complete it to show the position of the image of the object P when seen obliquely from above.
(iii) Name the phenomenon that occurs if the angle of incidence ∠PQN is increased still further.
A ray of light is incident as a normal ray on the surface of separation of two different mediums. What is the value of the angle of incidence in this case?
Answer the following question.
Define the critical angle of incidence and obtain an expression for it.
Describe the construction and working of an optical fibre.
Answer the following question.
Why is prism binoculars preferred over traditional binoculars? Describe its working in brief.
For the same angle of incidence, the angle of refraction in four media A, B, C and D are 25°, 30°, 35° and 40° respectively. The speed of light is least in medium ______.
The angle of minimum deviation produced by a thin glass prism in air is 'δ'. If that prism is immersed in water, the angle of minimum deviation will be ______.
( aμg = refractive index of glass w.r.t, air aμw = refractive index of water w.r.t. air)
Optical fibre communication uses the principle of ______.
The twinkling effect of star light is due to ______.
Which of the following statements about total internal reflection is true?
A green light is incident from the water to the air-water interface at the critical angle (θ). Select the correct statement.
A rectangular block of glass ABCD has a refractive index 1.6. A pin is placed midway on the face AB (Figure). When observed from the face AD, the pin shall ______.

- appear to be near A.
- appear to be near D.
- appear to be at the centre of AD.
- not be seen at all.
A Rainbow is a beautiful natural phenomenon formed because of the following:
A given ray of light suffers minimum deviation in an equilateral prism P. Additional prism Q and R of identical shape and of the same material as P are now added as shown in the figure. The ray will now suffer ______.

Small air bubbles rising up a fish tank appear silvery when viewed from some particular angle is due to the ______.
