• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Class Notes

Free Education for All

  • Class 1-5
  • Class 6
  • Class 7
  • Class 8
  • Class 9
  • Class 10
  • Class 11
  • Class 12
  • NCERT Solutions
    • NCERT Books
You are here: Home / Class 10 / Light-Reflection and Refraction / Refractive index

Refractive index

Last Updated on March 20, 2019 By Mrs Shilpi Nagpal 1 Comment

Question 1 What is refractive index?

Question 2 What is the speed of light in vacuum?

Question 3 What is absolute refractive index?

Question 4 What is relative refractive index?

Question 5 What happen When light goes from rarer medium to denser medium?

Question 6 What happen When light goes from denser medium to rarer medium?

Question 7 On what factors does refractive index depends?

Refractive index

Speed of light in vacuum= 3.00×108 m/s.

The amount of change in speed of light in a medium depend upon the property of medium(refractive index)
Refractive index is a measure of how much speed of light changes when it enter the medium from air.
Absolute refractive index is the ratio of speed of light in vacuum or air to speed of light in the medium.

       c

n=——

       ν


Relative refractive index

              Speed of light in medium 1

n21 = ————————————–

              Speed of light in medium 2

Refractive index of medium 2 wrt medium 1 is known as refractive index of medium 2.

              Speed of light in medium 2

n12= ————————————–

               Speed of light in medium 1

Refractive index of medium 1 wrt medium 2 is known as refractive index of medium 1.

1)When light goes from rarer medium to denser medium.

 Sin i         n1

——- = —— >1  

 Sin r         n2

Sin i >Sin r

∠i=∠r

Reflected ray bend toward normal.

2)When light goes from denser medium to rarer medium.

Sin i         n2

——- = ——- <1

sin r         n1

 Sin i < Sin r

∠i < ∠r

Reflected ray bend away from the normal.

Refractive index depend on nature of material of medium,density of medium,colour or wavelength of light.

Filed Under: Class 10, Light-Reflection and Refraction Tagged With: absolute refractive index, light goes from denser medium to rarer medium, light goes from rarer medium to denser medium, refractive index, relative refractive index, speed of light

About Mrs Shilpi Nagpal

Author of this website, Mrs Shilpi Nagpal is MSc (Hons, Chemistry) and BSc (Hons, Chemistry) from Delhi University, B.Ed (I. P. University) and has many years of experience in teaching. She has started this educational website with the mindset of spreading Free Education to everyone.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Swetha says

    March 10, 2019 at 8:12 pm

    Can you pls provide me some problems in refractive index with solution???so that I can understand it still more better???

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Fire and Ice Poem Class 10 English, First Flight – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings
  • Dust of Snow Poem Class 10 English, First Flight – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings
  • Exercise 5.2
  • Exercise 5.1
  • Exercise 4.4
  • Exercise 4.3
  • Class 10 English Chapter 9 | Bholi
  • Exercise 4.2
  • Exercise 4.1
Copyright © 2016-2021 | About Us | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter