Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

The optical fibre

Activity 1. Key words related to the optical fibre
In this activity you will learn vocabulary related with transmission using optical fibre. Listen to
the teacher explanations and:

a) Complete the following table. You can use http://www.wordreference.com

English Catalan
Photons
Electrons
Refracció
Reflection
Absorption
Refractive index
Angles of incidence
Raig
To bend
Light wave
Medi de transmissió

b) Now, match the pairs with arrows to define every term in the left column:

Total internal reflection Is the bending of the path of a light wave as it

passes across the boundary separating two
media

The refractive index Is used to determine the direction of light

rays through refractive media with varying
indices of refraction

Refraction Is an elementary particle, the quantum of

light and all other forms of electromagnetic
radiation

A photon Is a dimensionless number that describes

how light, or any other radiation, propagates
through that medium

Snell's law Is a phenomenon which occurs when a

propagating wave strikes a medium boundary
at an angle larger than a particular critical
angle with respect to the normal to the
surface

Then, check your answers with a partner.

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Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

Activity 2. Advantages and disadvantages of using optical fibre transmission

Read the following sentences and determine if they are true or false:

____ Optical fibre cables have a much greater bandwidth than metal cables

____ An optical fibre offers high power loss. This allows for longer transmission distances

____ Optical fibre cables are immune to electromagnetic interference.

____ Optical fibres are difficult to tap. As they do not radiate electromagnetic energy,
emissions can be easily intercepted

____ Optical fibre cables are much thinner and lighter than metal wires

____ Optical fibres are made of glass. The raw materials for glass are plentiful, unlike copper.
This means glass can be made more cheaply than copper.

____ Transmission on optical fibre requires repeating at distance intervals

____ Optical fibre cables are cheap to install and low-level training is needed

____ Optical fibres can be broken or have transmission loses when wrapped around curves
of only a few centimetres radius.

____ Optical fibres require less protection around the cable compared to copper.

Activity 3. The inside structure of an optical fibre

Connect to https://www.thinglink.com/scene/675020658723258368. You will find an image of
the optical fibre inside structure. Move on the tags to discover the names of the different
parts. Then, browse the Internet and look for the needed information to complete the table.

Name of the part It is made of ... Its diameter is ...

Activity 4. How fibre optics work and the types of fibre-optic cables
From the article http://www.explainthatstuff.com/fiberoptics.html, read the “How fiber optics
work” and “Types of fiber-optic cables” sections. Then, fill in the gaps on the text below by
getting the words from the box.

Larger – Long – Core – Multi-mode – Short – Single-mode – Cladding – Small

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Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

The light in an optical fibre cable travels through the __________ by constantly bouncing off
the __________, because the refractive index of the core is greater than the refractive index of
the cladding. This principle is called Total internal reflection.

Optical fibres come in two types:

 __________ fibres: Have __________ cores. All signals travel straight down the middle
without bouncing off the cladding and transmit infrared laser light in __________
distances.
 __________ fibres: Have __________ cores. Light beams can travel through the core
following a variety of different paths and transmit infrared light from LEDs in relatively
__________ distances.

Activity 5. Fibre Optic Cables: How they work & how engineers use them to
send messages
In this activity you will work on a video that explains, in an easy way, the reason of the total
internal reflection. This principle is the clue of transmission of information using an optical
fibre cable. The video is divided in different parts:

 Part 1. Presentation of a fibre optic cable

 Part 2. Experiment to explain the total internal reflection phenomena
 Part 3. Reflection & Refraction
 Part 4. The optical fibre structure
 Part 5. Preform and the drawing tower
 Part 6. The first transatlantic optical fibre cable
 Part 7. Pulse code modulation (PCM)
 Part 8. The attenuation in an optical fibre cable

Before watching the video, we should review some of the vocabulary they use in it.

First, connect to http://www.wordreference.com and check the pronunciation of the following

words:

 To shine  Beam  Laser pointer  Flow  Stream  Steel

 Strand  Copper  To guide  To cushion  Loudness

In the next boxes, you can find the definitions of some words that are named in the video.

Now work in pairs. One of the members reads the definition and the other finds the right
word. During the game, change your roles.

Word bank

To shine – Beam – Laser pointer – Flow – Stream – Steel – Strand – Copper – To

guide – To cushion – Loudness

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Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

Definitions

8. Small device with a laser

3. A line of diode emitting a very
1. To send out
radiation or narrow low-powered laser
or reflect light
particles flowing beam of visible light,
in one direction intended to be used to
highlight something of
11. The movement of
interest by illuminating it.
something in one direction

2. A strong metal that is a mixture of iron

7. Any current of water or and carbon, used for making things that
liquid need a strong structure

9. A chemical element that is a reddish-brown

4. A thin thread of something
metal, used especially for making wire and coins
twisted around each other to make
a string or rope
10. The magnitude of a signal

6. To make something move in 5. To protect from impacts

the direction in that you want it or other disturbing effects
to go

Now, it’s time to watch the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MwMkBET_5I

Once you have watched the video as many times as needed, answer the following questions.

Questions

Part 1. Presentation of a fibre optic cable

1. Which is the American word for the British word “fibre”?
__________________________________________________________________________

Part 2. Experiment to explain the total internal reflection phenomena

1. The laser beam reflects because of the difference between the refractive index of the
propylene glycol and the outside air. According to the video, this affirmation is true or
false?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the critical angle?

__________________________________________________________________________

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Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

Part 3. Reflection & Refraction

1. Complete the following sentence: Any time a light strikes a surface it can be ______,
______ or ______.
2. Refraction and reflection can happened at the same time, but if a light hits the surface in
the critical angle what happened?
__________________________________________________________________________

Part 4. The optical fibre structure

1. In reflection, the index of refraction of the core is higher or lower than the index refraction
of the cladding?
__________________________________________________________________________

Part 5. Preform and the drawing tower

1. How is it call the inside part of the fibre?
__________________________________________________________________________
2. In a drawing tower, which is the right speed of the wheel: 60 hundred meters per second,
6 hundred meters per second or 16 hundred meters per second?
__________________________________________________________________________

Part 6. The first transatlantic optical fibre cable

1. Which was the first ocean spreading fibre optic cable? How long was? Where was it
located? Which were the countries linked by the cable?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. How many fibres were into the wire?

__________________________________________________________________________

3. Engineers designed the cable to survive into the ocean. According to the image bellow,
what are the functions of the steel wire, the steel strand and the copper tubing?
__________________________________________________________________________

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Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

Part 7. Pulse code modulation (PCM)

1. What is the pulse code modulation used for?
__________________________________________________________________________

2. How is named the process to assign a combination of 1s and 0s to each value of a signal?
__________________________________________________________________________

3. Complete the sentence: We can see the signal as a series of ______ and ______ organized
by time. And it is that series that we send through a fibre optic cable.
4. In pulse code modulation, what is the meaning of a 1 and what is the meaning of a 0?
__________________________________________________________________________

Part 8. The attenuation in a optical fibre cable

1. What is attenuation? Why is it produced?
__________________________________________________________________________

Synthesize
1. In your opinion, have telecommunications been revolutionized by the use of the optical
fibre? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Activity 6. Optical fibre connectors and unions

Padlet is a virtual wall that allows people to work on a common topic easily. It works like an
online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents,
text).

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Student’s worksheet The Optical Fibre

In groups of 4 build up a Padlet to explain the different types of optical fibre connectors and
unions.

Activity 7. The submarine optical fibre cables

Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a
virtual canvas.

In pairs, prepare a Prezi presentation about the submarine optical cable map and the
installation process to lay out new cables through the oceans.

Then, present it to the rest of the class.

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