What is the angle of refraction (relative to the boundary normal) of a diamond in contact with water according to Snell's law? The indices of refraction for water and diamond are respectively #1.33# and #2.42#.

Question

1992 views around the world

You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License

Answer 1 · 2015-07-24T23:28:32

The equation for this situation is

#n_"water"sintheta_"water" = n_"diamond"sintheta_"diamond"#.

Since we know #theta_"water"#, and #n_"water" ~~ 1.33# and #n_"diamond" ~~ 2.42#, solve for #theta_"diamond"#.

#theta_"diamond" = arcsin(n_"water"/n_"diamond" sintheta_"water")#

Remember that angles of refraction are with respect to the normal.