Snell's Law To Measure The Speed Of Light Experiment

INTRODUCTION

Our project is based on Snell’s Law; we want to see if it is possible to measure the speed of light using inexpensive everyday objects like gelatine or water. Many underprivileged schools lack the equipment to demonstrate different laws to their students this has caused many people to lose interest and not fully understand the importance of science in society as well as the learning material they have been given. If our experiment is viable it will decrease this problem and allow these underprivileged schools students to reach their full potential in their learning material.

Snell’s Law states that the ratio of the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction of a wave are constant when it passes between two given media. By

APPARATUS Laser and Stand Wine Water Oil Clear Container Saltwater Solution Protractor Pen and Paper Calculator

METHOD

Place all substances in different containers (note: same size) Place Laser on a stand and draw line where the light passes Place container in an angle of 45˚ on each corner Switch on the laser and measure angle of light refraction Repeat this with each substance Repeat experiment three times to check results Tabulate angles Use these results and place them into Snell’s Formulae Use the results to work out speed of light within each substance Tabulate all your results

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

When making solutions be careful not to burn yourself.

Don’t point laser into your eyes as it can damage them

OBSERVATIONS

When we did the experiment we noted that the denser a substance was the further the light refracted, We also noted that our salt solution and the oil had the same light refraction angles thus proving that they have similar density levels.

DATA

Headings Angles of Refraction Index of Refraction Speed of

A: Snell’s law is a formula used to show the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing through a boundary between two different isotropic media such as water.

Q: What is isotropic material? A: These are materials that have identical value of property in all directions.

Q: How does speed of light relate to Snell’s law? A: Snell’s law allows us to work out the index of refraction of light through an object. We can use this and insert into a formulae of “n=c/v. We know that the speed of light is about 300,000 kilometres per second so if we add this into the formulae as well as the index of refraction we can work out the speed of light travelling through the