Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
During sunset and sunrise, the sun is seen when it is slightly below the horizon. Give reason.
Advertisements
Solution
Light rays from the sun while coming towards earth suffers successive refractions from a rarer to a denser medium and so it bends towards the normal at each refraction. These rays on earth appear to be coming from an apparent position of the sun which is higher than its actual position. Thus, the sun is seen even when it is slightly below the horizon during sunset and sunrise.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Draw a ray diagram to show the refraction of light through a glass slab and mark angle of refraction and the lateral shift suffered by the ray of light while passing through the slab.
If the speed of light in vacuum is 3 × 108 ms−1, find the speed of light in a medium of absolute refractive index 1.5.
Write the relation between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction for a medium.
In the adjacent diagram, AO is a ray of light incident on a rectangular glass slab.

- Complete the path of the ray till it emerges out of the slab.
- In the diagram, mark the angle of incidence (i) and the angle of refraction (r) at the first interface. How is the refractive index of glass related to the angles i and r?
- Mark angles of emergence by the letter e. How are the angles i and e related?
- Which two rays are parallel to each other? Name them.
- Indicate in the diagram the lateral displacement between the emergent ray and the incident ray. State one factor that affects the lateral displacement.
What is meant by the statement the critical angle for diamond is 24°?
Select from the following the best set-up for tracing the path of a ray of light through a rectangular glass slab:

(A) I
(B) II
(C) III
(D) IV
Can the absolute refractive index of a medium be less than one?
A ray of light PQ is incident normally on the hypotenuse of a right-angled prism ABC as shown in the diagram given below:

(i) Copy the diagram and complete the path of the ray PQ till it emerges from the prism.
(ii) What is the value of the angle of deviation of the ray?
(iii) Name an instrument where this action of the prism is used.
A ray of light strikes the surface of a rectangular glass slab such that the angle of incidence in air is
- 0°,
- 45°.
In each case, draw a diagram to show the path taken by the ray as it passes through the glass slab and emerges from it.
