5.

3 Total Internal Reflection

PREPARED BY:
PHYSICS DEPARTMENT
SBP INTEGRASI TEMERLOH
2006

The inside surface of water can act like a perfect mirror.

This happens when the light rays in the medium strike the
surface of water
The internal reflection of light at the surface in a
medium is know as total Internal reflection
This depends on the angle at which light rays in the
medium strike the surface of the medium

Total Internal Reflection and Critical

Angle

When light travel from denser medium to a less

dense medium for example from water into air, it
bends away from normal and a small part of
incidence ray is reflected inside the water

As the angle of incidence, i increases, the angle of

increase

refraction, r also

The refracted ray travels along the air-water boundary when incident
ray equal to the critical angle of water ( i = c )

Critical angle = angle of incidence when the angle of refraction is 90

This is the limit of the light ray that can be refracted in air ( cannot
be any larger than 90

if the angle of incidence is increased further than the

critical angle (i>c), the light is no more refracted, but is
internally reflected

The ray of light is entirely reflected from the surface at

an angle of incidence is called as total internal reflection

Two conditions for total internal

reflection to occur are
1.

Light ray travel from a denser medium to a less dense

medium

2.

The angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle of

the medium

Relationship between critical Angle and refractive

Index

The refractive index of medium

sin i
n
sin r
i= angle between the ray with the normal in air
r= angle between the ray with the normal in medium
The refractive index of water:
sin i (in air )

sin r (in water )

sin 90 0

sin c
1

or
sin c
1 1
c sin
n

Example 1
(a)
(b)

A glass block has a refractive index n = 1.52. Calculate the

critical angle,c for glass
The critical angle for water is 490C. Determine the
refractive index of water

Solution

Critical
angle
forofglass
((ba))There
fractive
index
water
1 1 1
nc sin 0
sin 49 n
1.33 1 1
sin

1.52
410

Example 2
Figure beside shows the path
of a light ray from glass to air.
Which is the correct path of
the light ray?
Solution:
The angle of incidence (in
glass)
= 900-400
= 500 > Critical angle

Total internal reflection occurs,

The correct path the light ray is
LOS

Example 3
Figure shows a fish in a pond. The fish can see a prawn
behind a rock
(a) If the refractive index of water is 1.33, what is the
critical
angle of water?
(b) Draw the path of a light ray to show how the fish can
see
the
prawn

(b)

The light ray

1 from
(a ) n must be
prawn
incident sin
on c
the
water surface
1 at1an
sin cI larger
than
angle,
1.33
48.750for itn to be
0
totally
reflected
c 48.75
into the eye of the
fish

Natural phenomena involving

total internal reflection

(a) Mirages
- Resulted from refraction and total
internal reflection
- On a hot day, a person will see an
imaginary pool of water appearing
on the surface of the road (mirage)
The layer of air near the ground are hotter
The layers higher up are cooler and denser
Since, the refractive index of air depends on its density the lower (hotter
layer) have a lower refractive index than the layer above them
Light from sky is refracted gradually towards the horizontal after passing
through the different layers of air of different density
It meets a layer of air near the ground at an angle greater than the critical
angle.

Rainbow

Rainbow

A rainbow is a colourful natural

phenomenon caused by refraction,
dispersion and total internal reflection
of light within water droplets.
When sunlight shines on millions of water droplets in
the air after rain
We will see a multicoloured arc
When white light from the sun enters the raindrops
It is refracted and dispersed into its various colour
component inside the raindrops
When the dispersed light hits the back of the raindrop,
it is then refracted again as it leaves the drop
The colours of a rainbow run from violet along the
lower part of the spectrum to red along the upper part

Applications of
Total Internal Reflection

(a) Totally reflecting prisms

Images produced by total internal

reflection are brighter than those
produced by mirrors
When the light rays strike the
inside face of a right angled
glass prism with angle of incidence,i
greater than the critical angle,c,
(420 for glass) total internal
reflection occurs
A 450/450 prism is capable of bending light rays through 900
Optical instruments such as the periscope and binoculars
make use of total internal reflection within glass prisms
rather than reflection by mirrors
The image seen through a periscope is upright and of the
same size as the object
The first prism forms an inverted image and the second
prism invert it back to normal

(b) Prism Periscope

Is built using two right- angled
prisms made of crown glass
Light rays from the object incident
normally on one side of the first
prism pass straight on until they
strike its hypotenuse face at an
angle of 450
The angle of incidence is greater
than the critical angle of glass
(c=420), so the ray are totally
reflected out from this prism
These emergent rays then incident normally on a second prism
and strike its hypotenuse face at an angle of 450 which is greater
than the critical angle
Thus the rays are totally reflected again before reaching the
eye of the observer to see the hidden object, O

 The image produced is upright and has the same

size as the object
Advantages of the prism periscope compared to a
mirror periscope:
(a)The image is brighter because all the light
energy is reflected
(b)The image is clearer because there are
no
multiple images as formed in a mirror periscope
A periscope can be used to view objects behind
obstacles
In submarines, periscopes are used to observed
ships on the surface of the sea

(c) Prism binocular

It also based on the effect of a prism on rays of light
A ray of light experiences two total internal reflection at
prisms A and B respectively
The arrangement of two prisms with their hypotenuse faces
parallel but diagonal perpendicular to each oyher
It will produces a final image which is upright and not
laterally inverted

The benefits of using prisms in binoculars:

(a) An upright image is produced
(b) The distance between the objective lens and the
eyepiece
is reduced
(a) This make the binocular shorter as compared to a
telescope which has the same magnifying power

(d) Fibre Optics

Total internal reflection is also used in optical fibres.

An optical fibre consists of an inner core of high refractive
index glass and surrounded by an outer cladding of lower
refractive index
When the light is introduced into the inner core at one
end,it will propagate along the fibre in a zigzag path and will
undergo a series of total internal reflection

Optical fibres are useful in having light to inaccessible

places

They are used in many important practical applications.

Endoscope is an instrument made of optical fibre cable.

It is used by doctors to see inside of human body such
as heart and duodenum

In telecommunication ,copper cables are now replaced

by optical fibre in the telephone system

Multiple signals can be sent at high speed through a

bundle of fibre by using flashes of light from a laser

Advantages of using optical fibres

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

They are much thinner ang lighter

A large number of signals can be sent through them at
one time
They transmit signals with very little loss over great
distances
The signals are safe and free from electrical
interferences
They can carry data for computer and TV programmes

THE END