Electromagnetic Waves and Snell's Law
Physics 223
Dr. Hank Yochum
Fall 2000

Goal:
Your goal is to experimentally find the index of refraction of a transparent solid and water.  (Both will be provided)  You are also to observe total internal reflection and determine the critical angle for a given transparent material.

WARNING:
Although these are relatively low power lasers, they can be VERY DANGEROUS!  This means DO NOT stare into the beam.  Whenever you setup the laser, know where the beam and any reflected/refracted beams may go. 

Procedure and Apparatus:
No procedure is given for this lab, YOU are to determine what procedure to follow.  The equipment you will have available:
    Helium-Neon Laser    (source of electromagnetic waves)
    protractors
    rulers
    eyes

    Again, NO Motion Sensors!!!!!

Your Lab Report:
Write a conventional lab report as we have been doing.  REMEMBER THE COMMENTS I HAVE BEEN PUTTING ON YOUR REPORTS!  A paper without titled figures and tables that are referred to in the text will be not be graded.  Make sure to sure to estimate the error on each type of measurement you make and propogate this error to the index of refraction.

Prelab:
Re-read section 34-7 and 34-8 in Halliday and Resnick on reflection and refraction.  Describe how you would determine the index of refraction of a transparent material.

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last updated 10/16/00.