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Question
The critical angle for glass-air is 45° for the light of yellow colour. State whether it will be less than, equal to, or more than 45° for (i) ref light, (ii) blue light?
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Solution
As the wavelength decreases (or increases) refractive index becomes more (or less) and critical angle becomes less (or more).
(i) For red light the critical angle will be more than 45° and
(ii) For blue light the critical angle will be less than 45°.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Choose the correct alternative and rewrite the following sentence.
A ray of light strikes the glass slab at an angle of 50°. What is the angle of incidence?
After tracing the path of a ray of light passing through a rectangular glass slab for four different values of the angle of incidence, a student reported his observations in tabular form as given below:
| S.No | ∠ i | ∠ r | ∠ e |
| I | 30° | 19° | 29° |
| II | 40° | 28° | 40° |
| III | 50° | 36° | 50° |
| IV | 60° | 40° | 59° |
The best observation is
(A) I
(B) II
(C) III
(D) IV
A ray of light passes from glass into air. The angle of refraction will be:
(a) equal to the angle of incidence
(b) greater than the angle of incidence
(c) smaller than the angle of incidence
(d) 45°
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.
A ray of light OP passes through a right angles prism as shown in the adjacent diagram.
(a) State the angles of incidence at the faces AC and BC.
(b) Name the phenomenon which the ray suffers at the face AC.
A total reflecting equilateral prism can be used to deviate a ray of light through:
Name one main factor on which the direction of bending of a ray of light depends.
Express the refractive index μ of a medium in terms of the velocity of light.
How does the angle of deviation produced by a prism depend on the colour of light used? Which colour of white light is deviated (i) most, (ii) least, by a prism?
After a robbery, if a window has been broken, there will be tiny particles of glass. Some of these will be found at the scene of the crime and some may be caught in the thief’s clothing. If the police can prove that these particles are identical, they have a strong case.
A method of doing this is to suspend the particles of glass in a special liquid. Light of a single colour is thrown through the liquid and the particles viewed through a microscope. The temperature of the liquid is then slowly altered. This alters the speed of light through the liquid (i.e., it alters the refractive index). At one particular temperature, the particles of glass disappear. It this happens at the same temperature for both sets of glass particles, they probably came from the same broken pane of glass.
Complete and copy the diagram to show how light bends when it travels from the liquid to the glass and back to the liquid, If the light slows down in the glass.
