The Index of Refraction is a material property that can be used to determine the speed light travels in the medium. The number can also be used to describe how light bends when traveling from a medium with one index of refraction to another with a different index. See Snell's Law of Refraction.
Check out this excellent introduction to refraction by Edmund Scientific.
Big Ideas
Big Idea 1: Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge. Systems may have internal structure.
Bid Idea 2: Fields existing in space can be used to explain interactions.
Big Idea 3: The interactions of an object with other objects can be described by forces.
Big Idea 4: Interactions between systems can result in changes in those systems.
Big Idea 5: Changes that occur as a result of interactions are constrained by conservation laws.
Big Idea 6: Waves can transfer energy and momentum from one location to another without the permanent transfer of mass and serve as a mathematical model for the description of other phenomena.
Big Idea 7: The mathematics of probability can be used to describe the behavior of complex systems and to interpret the behavior of quantum mechanical systems.
Learning Objectives
BoxSand Learning Objectives
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.BS.1: Be able to determine the effect speed of light in a medium using the Index of Refraction
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.BS.2: Be able to identify what is and is not constant as light passes from one medium to the next
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.BS.3: Be able to calculate changes in wavelegth when light travels from one medium to the next
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.BS.4: Be able to understand that light always travels at a speed c, but in a medium it's effective speed can be different
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.BS.5: Understand why the index of refraction must always be greater than or equal to 1
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.BS.6: Students should understand dispersion and the electromagnetic spectrum, so they can:
- Relate a variation of index of refraction with frequency to a variation in refraction.
- Know the names associated with electromagnetic radiation and be able to arrange in order of increasing wavelength the following: visible light of various colors, ultraviolet light, infrared light, radio waves, x-rays, and gamma rays.
College Board Learning Objectives
Optics.Index-Refraction.LO.CB.6.E.1.1: The student is able to make claims using connections across concepts about the behavior of light as the wave travels from one medium into another, as some is transmitted, some is reflected, and some is absorbed. [SP 6.4, 7.2]
Enduring Understanding and Essential Knowledge
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Enduring Understanding |
Essential Knowledge |
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Optics.Index-Refraction.EU.CB.6.E: The direction of propagation of a wave such as light may be changed when the wave encounters an interface between two media. |
Optics.Index-Refraction.EK.CB.6.E.1: When light travels from one medium to another, some of the light is transmitted, some is reflected, and some is absorbed. (Qualitative understanding only.) |
Assumptions
Describe what the assumptions are and why they're important
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History
History
Physics Fun
Fun stuff
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