KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA

NO.2 SRI VIJAYA

NAGAR
The Department of Science

INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT
PHYSICS

SWARAJ
KAMBLE
12A 10

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE

(INTERNAL EXAMINER) (STUDENT)

 INDEX
→ Certificate
→ Acknowledgement
→ Introduction
→ Theory
→ Procedure
→ Observation
→ Results
→ Sources of error
→ Bibliography
 CERTIFICATE
This is certify that swaraj Umesh Kamble of class xii
science of k.v.svn no.2 has successfully completed the
project work on topic diffraction grating under the
guidance of Mr. Gopi Krishna (PGT physics)sir for the
aissce as prescribed by the academic session 2022-23.
 AKNOWLEDGEMENT

"There are times when silence speaks louder than words

of praise to only as good as belittle a person, whose word
ot express, but only put a veneer over true feelings,
which are of gratitude at this point of time."

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my physics

teacher Mr.Gopi Krishna for his vital support, guidance
and encouragement, without which this project could
not have been completed.

I also wish to thank my parents for their undivided

support and interest, who inspired and encouraged me
to go my own way, and without whom I would have been
unable to complete my friends and my teachers, who
motivated and guided me throughout my work.
 Introduction
When light is incident on the interface of two mediums, it
deviates from its original path. This phenomenon is known as
retraction. This basic cause of refraction is due to the chance in
velocity of light while going from one medium to another. The
velocity of light is different in different mediums. In denser
mediums, velocity of light is lower. Thus the light tends to bend
or deviate more from its original path, which in turn implies
that the medium has greater refractive index. By measuring the
angle of deviation and its variation from angle of incidence, we
can find the minimum angle of deviation. It is possible to
calculate the refractive index of a medium from the value of the
angle of minimum deviation.
The liquid under study was taken in a hollow prism. Four
refraction took place-first at the air-glass interface; second at
the glass-liquid interface third at the liquid-glass interface and
lastly at the glass-air interface However, for simplification, it
has been assumed that the glass has negligible thickness, and
only two effective refraction took place-first, when light moves
from air to liquid, and second, when it moves from liquid to air.
The calculations for refractive index were done with these
premises.
Some terms related to topics are:

 Refraction: the phenomenon of bending of light from its straight line path
on the surface of separation of two optical media is known as refraction of
light.

 Laws of refraction:

1.First law: incident ray, normal and the point of incidence and refractive
ray are co planer ie., all lie in the same plane.

2. Second law: the ratio of sine ∠i and ∠r is always constant.

 Refractive index (µ): it is defined as the ratio of velocity of light in vacuum

to that of in any medium.
 µ= c/v
 Angle of incidence: the angle

 Between the incident ray and the normal ray.

 Angle of deviation: the angle between the incident ray and the emergent
ray is called the angle of deviation, denoted by δ.

 Minimum deviation: minimum value of angle of deviation suffered by a

light ray when it passes through a prism it is known as minimum angle of
deviation.

 Dispersion: the phenomenon of splitting of white light into its constituent

colours when light ray passes through the prism is called dispersion of light.
 Experiment
 Aim:
 To investigate the dependence of the angle of
deviation, on the angle of incidence, using hollow
prism filled, one by one, with different transparent
fluids.

 Materials required:
• drawing sheet
• drawing board
• board pins
• a hollow glass prism
• different transparent liquid

 Theory:

Prism: a prism is a portion of transparent medium

bonded by two plane faces inclined to each other at a
suitable angle. The angle a between them is the
refracting angle or the angle of prism.
A section abc made by the plane at right angles to the
refracting edge of the prism is called the principal
section of the prism.
REFRACTION THROUGH PRISM

A ray of light suffers refraction twice on passing through

a prism hence deviate through a certain angle from its
original path.

CALCULATION OF ANGLE OF DEVIATION

In the given figure, ABC is a principal section of a prism

with angle A as angle of prism. A ray of light PQ is
incident on the face of AB of the prism at ∠I1 bends
towards the normal N,0 and is refracted along QR at er.
The refracted ray OR is incident at ∠r2 on the face AC of
the prism. It bends away from the normal N,0 and
emerges along RS at ∠i2. In passing through the prism,
ray PS suffers refraction twice and deviates through
∠LMN= which is the angle of deviation.
In △MQR,.
δ =∠MQR +∠MRQ
δ = (i1-r1) + (i2-r2)
δ =（i1+i2) - (r1+r2)…….(1)
In △OQR,

∠0 +∠r1 +∠r2=180° ……..(2)

In quadrilateral AQOR,

∠A+∠O=180°……..(3)

Comparing equation (2) and (3)

∠O+∠r1+∠r2=∠A+∠O

∠r1+∠r2=∠A……(4)

Putting equation (4) in (1)

δ = (i1+i2)-A……(5)

Refractive index of the material of the prism: 

At minimum deviation, i1 = i2 = i and r1 = r2 = r

Now, the equation (5) becomes, D = i1 + i2 -A

The equation (4) becomes, r1 + r2 = A ⇒ 2r = A

r = Substituting i and r in Snell’s law,

DERIVATION OF PRISM FORMULA:
The derivation of prism formula is as follows –
μ =S i n [ A + δ m / 2 ]
Sin(A/2)
Here, μ is the refractive index of the glass (or the
material from which the prism is constructed).
A is the apex angle of the prism.
δm is the minimum deviation produced in the given
prism, the minimum deviation occurs when the angle
of incidence is equal to the angle of emergence.
Applying this for A and δm in the prism formula, we
get-
μ=(A+δm)
(A/2)
On rearranging this equation we get-
μ=A+δm/A
Or
μA = A + δm
A(μ − 1) = δm
This is the required prism formula for a thin prism.
PROCEDURE:
1. The sheet of white paper was fixed un the drawing
board with drawing pins

2. The prism filled with liquid was placed on the paper

and its boundary ABC was traced.

3. A point was marked on one of the refracting

surfaces and a normal was drawn to the surface at that
point.

4. A straight line P Q was drawn corresponding to

incident ray drawn at a suitable angle with the normal.

5. Two pins P and Q was fixed about 5cm apart on the

incident ray and its image was viewed with one eye
closed from the side AC of the prism Two pins R and S
was fixed such that the tips of those pins and the tips
of the images of the incident ray pin P, Q lied in the
same straight line.

6. The pinpricks on the paper were encircled.

7. The pins P and Q were removed and also encircle
their pinpricks.

8. Points Sand R was joined and produced backward to

meet the incident ray PQ produced. Thus RS is the
emergent ray corresponding to the incident ray PQ
Arrowheads were drawn to show the direction of the
rays.

9. The angle of deviation & and prism were measured

with the protractor.

10. The above steps were repeated for different angles

of incidence. The experiment with different liquids
was repeated.
OBSERVATION
RESULT
The angle of deviation first decreases with
increase in angle of incidence , attains a minimum
value and then increases with further increase in angle
of incidence .

SOURCES OF ERROR
1.Pin pricks may be thick .

2.Measurement of angles may be wrong.

3.The parallax may not be fully removed

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.Physics ncert textbook

2.Wikipedia- the encyclopedia

3.Comprehensive practical book – Physics