EXPERIMENT #4: Snell’s Law and Thin Lenses

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Learn Snell’s Law of refraction and see it in action.
 Introduction to thin lenses and the Thin Lens Equation.
 Determination of some thin lenses properties through experiments.
 Apply the different concepts pertaining to error analysis and uncertainties learned
throughout the semester.

(30%)PART 1: SNELL’S LAW OF REFRACTION

Goal
Determine the index of refraction of a prism.

Theory
For light crossing the boundary between two transparent materials, Snell’s Law states:

𝑛1 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃1 = 𝑛2 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃2

Where θ1 is the angle of incidence, θ2 is the angle of refraction, and 𝑛1 and 𝑛2 are the
respective indices of refraction of the materials

Procedure

1. Place the light source on a sheet of paper. Turn the wheel to select a single light ray.

2. Place the prism on the paper such that the ray passes through the parallel sides as shown:

Top view of the experiment

3. Carefully trace the surface of the prism where the ray enters. Trace the incoming ray and
mark with a dot or a cross where the transmitted ray exits the prism on the paper.
4. Remove the prism and draw a line connecting the entry point of the incoming ray and the
exit point of the transmitted ray you marked. This line represents the ray inside the prism.

5. Draw the normal to the surface you traced.

6. Measure the angle of incidence, θi, and the angle of refraction θr. Both angles should be
measured from the normal. Record the angles in Table 1 of your report.

7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 with different angles of incidence 5 times.

(20%) Question 1: Compute the index of refraction of the prism using Snell’s Law and record
your result in Table 1 (no uncertainty associated). Assume the index of refraction of air is 1.0
with an uncertainty of 0.

(5%) Question 2: Compute the average index of refraction and its uncertainty.
Note: The uncertainty of an averaged result 𝜎, should be such that 2\3 of the data fall within the
range[ – 𝜎 , +𝜎 ].

(5%) Question 3: Table 1 lists the index of refraction of different materials.

Table 1: List of Different Transparent Materials and Their Index of Refraction

Material Index of refraction

Fused quartz 1.458

Acrylic glass (plexiglass) 1.5

Flint glass 1.60

Diamond 2.417
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refractive_indices

Based on your result which material (or materials) could the prism be made of? Discuss the
consistency of your result with the indices of refraction to explain your reasoning.

(70%) PART 2: FOCAL LENGTH AND MAGNIFICATION OF A THIN LENS

Goal
Find the focal length of a thin lens using 2 different ways.

Theory
For a thin lens, the Thin Lens Equation describes how the focal length is related to the image
distance and object distance:
1 1 1
= +
𝑓 𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖
where 𝑓 is the focal length, 𝑑𝑜 is the distance between the object and the lens, and 𝑑𝑖 is the
distance between the image and the lens. By measuring 𝑑𝑜 and 𝑑𝑖 , the focal length can be
determined.

(10%) Part A: Object At Infinity

Procedure:

1. Hold the lens in one hand and put the screen on a flat surface (table or ground). Focus the
image of a distant object (do≈∞) on the screen. The lights of the ceiling should do the
trick.
2. Measure the distance between the lens and the screen. This is the image distance di.
Record it in your report.

(5%) Question 4: Compute the focal length, fA, using the Thin Lens Formula.

(50%) Part B: Object Closer Than Infinity

Procedure:

1. Place the light source and the screen on the optics bench 1 m apart with the light source’s
crossed-arrow object toward the screen. Place the lens between them as shown above.

2. Starting with the lens close to the screen, slide the lens away from the screen to a position
where a clear image of the crossed-arrow object is formed on the screen. Measure the image
distance and the object distance. Record these measurements (and all measurements from the
following steps) in Table 2 of your student report.

3. Measure the object size and the image size for this position of the lens.

4. Without moving the screen or the light source, move the lens to a second position where
the image is in focus. Measure the image distance and the object distance.

5. Measure the object size and image size for this position. Note that you will not see the
entire crossed-arrow pattern. Instead, measure the image and object sizes as the distance between
two index marks on the pattern:
6. Repeat steps 2 and 4 with light source-to-screen distances of 90 cm, 80 cm, 70 cm, 60
cm, and 50 cm. For each light source-to-screen distance, find two lens positions where clear
images are formed. (You don’t need to measure image and object sizes!).

(20%) Table 2: Calculate 1/d0 and 1/di without their uncertainties in Table 2 of your report.

(10%) Graph: Plot 1/d0 versus 1/di and find the best fit line (Don’t forget errorbars if they aren’t
too small!). Record the x- and y-intercepts). Trace the maximum slope and the minimum slope on
your graph to determine the uncertainty of the x- and y-intercepts.

(5%) Question 5: What do they represent? (Hint: Use the Thin Lens Equation.)

(5%) Question 6: Use the intercepts to compute the averaged focal length fB. Use propagation of
error to estimate its uncertainty.

(10%) Question 7: Compare and discuss the consistency of your result with the focal length
found in Part A, fA. Compute the percentage difference. If your results are not consistent, give a
source of error to explain the discrepancy.

(10%) Part C: Magnification

Theory
Lenses are optical systems used to produce images for purposes ranging from screening the latest
Superhero movieTM on a huge screen to enabling nearsighted people to watch said movie and
have a chance at understanding the plot1. Images can be classified in two types:

1. Virtual images
2. Real images

A virtual image is produced at the divergent point of the divergent outgoing rays from a lens.
Since virtual images are produced on the same side of the lens where the object is located, they
cannot be projected onto a screen.

In contrast, a real image is produced on the other side of the lens and thus, can be projected unto
a screen.

1
Of course, lenses can only help so much with the plot structure...
The magnification, M, is the ratio of image size to object size. If the image is inverted, M is
negative.

1. For the first two data points only (the first two lines of Table 2 in your student report),
use the image and object distances to calculate the magnification, M, at each position of
the lens. Record the results in Table 3 of your student report.
𝑑𝑖
𝑀 = −( )
𝑑𝑜

2. Calculate the absolute value of M (for each of the two lens positions) using your
measurements of the image size and object size. Record the results in Table 12.3.

𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒
|𝑀| =
𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒

3. Calculate the percent differences between the absolute values of M found using the two
methods. Record the results in Table 3 of your student report. If the percentage difference is
larger than 25%, give a source of error that can explain the discrepancy.

(1.5%) Question 8: Is the image formed by the lens upright or inverted?

(1.5%) Question 9: Is the image real or virtual? Explain your reasoning.

(1.5%) Question 10: Explain why, for a given screen-to-object distance, there are two lens
positions where a clear image forms. (Hint: Use the Thin Lens Equation.)

(1.5%) Question 11: By looking at the image, how can you tell that the magnification is
negative?

Bonus: Addition of Colored Light

Procedure
1. Turn the wheel on the light source to select the red, green and blue bars. Fold a blank,
sheet of paper and put the light source on it so that the colored bars appear on the vertical
part of the paper.
 2. Place the convex lens near the ray box so it focuses the rays onto the vertical part of the
paper.
3. Complete Table 4 with your observations.
4. Block each color in succession with a pen or pencil to see their addition. Complete Table
4.

(3%) Question: Could the same result be expected if we were to mix red paint with green and
blue paint? Reflect on this observation and attempt to explain it.

PROPAGATION OF ERROR FORMULAS

2
ΔA 2 ΔB
𝑍 = 𝐴𝐵 Δ𝑍 = 𝑍√( 𝐴 ) + (( 𝐵 ))

2
𝐴 ΔA 2 ΔB
𝑍=𝐵 Δ𝑍 = 𝑍√( 𝐴 ) + (( 𝐵 ))

𝑍 =𝐴±𝐵±𝐶 Δ𝑍 = √Δ𝐴2 + Δ𝐵2 + Δ𝐶 2

Z = 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃 Δ𝑍 = (Δ𝜃)|𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃| (using radians)

𝑍 = 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 Δ𝑍 = (Δ𝜃)|𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃| (using radians)

|𝑥1 − 𝑥2 |
% 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 𝑥 + 𝑥 ×100%
1 2
2