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Refractometry

The document discusses refractometry and the Abbe refractometer. It explains that refraction occurs when light passes from one medium to another, following Snell's law. The refractive index depends on factors like temperature, pressure, and concentration of solutions. The Abbe refractometer uses two prisms to determine the refractive index of a liquid sample placed between them based on the limit angle seen through an ocular. By measuring standard solutions of known concentration and plotting refractive index versus concentration, the concentration of an unknown sample can be determined from its refractive index.

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157 views2 pages

Refractometry

The document discusses refractometry and the Abbe refractometer. It explains that refraction occurs when light passes from one medium to another, following Snell's law. The refractive index depends on factors like temperature, pressure, and concentration of solutions. The Abbe refractometer uses two prisms to determine the refractive index of a liquid sample placed between them based on the limit angle seen through an ocular. By measuring standard solutions of known concentration and plotting refractive index versus concentration, the concentration of an unknown sample can be determined from its refractive index.

Uploaded by

LoveFreequency
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Refractometry

Theoretical aspects
Refraction is the phenomenon which consists in the changing of the propagation direction
of a ray of light when it passes from one medium to another (Fig 1)
The phenomenon is characterized by the law:
sin
n
sin

(eq . 2)

The refraction index n is independent on the


refraction or incidence angle. It depends only on
the nature of the two media, on the wavelength
corresponding to the light used, on temperature
and pressure.
In the case of solutions, the refraction index
depends also on the concentration of the solution.
This can be used for determining the
concentration of a solution of unknown
concentration. In order to do so, the refraction
index of the solution of several concentrations is
first determined and then the n=f (n) curve is
drawn. For a solution of unknown concentration, whose refraction index we know, we
can easily determine the concentration from the graph.
By using the refraction index we can make assumptions about the structure of a
substance. We define a quantity, called molecular refraction:
RM

n2 1 M

n2 2 d

, M - mollecular mass
d - density(g/cm 3 )
n - refraction index

(eq.2)

RM doesnt depend on the temperature, pressure or the aggregation state of the substance.
So, it is a quantity that characterizes exclusively the structure of the molecule.
Empirically, it was established that the molecular refraction is the sum of the atomic
refractions and the refractions introduced by some unsaturated bonds etc.
We can compare the empirical value of the molecular refraction with the experimental
value, verifying that the proposed structure is correct.

Abbe Refractometer
The Abbe refractometer which is to be used for determinations, is based on the following
observation: if several light rays are send from a less denser medium in a denser medium,
such that they are convergent in a point (Fig 2) then a part of the space in which the
denser medium is situated will be inaccessible to the rays.
No ray of light will penetrate the highlighted area in Fig 2. So when looking from point O
this area will appear darkened. The angle is called limit angle and because for the ray 5,
sin =1(=incidence angle), we obtain that n=1/sin.After determining the limit angle
well be able to compute refraction index.

The most important part of the device is


formed of 2 prisms, between which a film from
the studied liquid is introduced. A system
formed from a mirror and a lens sends the rays
through the prisms and the liquid layer .By
rotating the prisms we can reach the limit
angle, when a dark and bright area can be
distinguished in the ocular.
If the prisms are rotated until the separation
limit between the 2 areas passes through the
center of the cross formed by the spider threads
in the ocular, the rotation angle rotation angle
is equal to the limit angle. The scale which
measures the rotation angle is graduated in such way as to indicate directly the value of
the refractive index, n.
Because we work with polychromatic light, the separation line between the dark and
bright zones will be colored (the differently colored components have different refraction
indexes and limit angles). By rotating the button of a monochromatic we can recombine
the light and these colored lines disappear, the dispersion of light being in this way
compensated.

Working procedure
We use solutions consisting of a mixture of glycerin and ethyl alcohol with different
molar fractions of the glycerine: 0;0.2;0.4;0.5;0.6;0.8;1.For each sample of solution we
measure the refraction index.
We also measure the refraction index of a solution with unknown concentration. The
dependence between the refraction index and concentration is represented graphically,
and by interpolation the concentration of the sample solution is determined.

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