EXPERIMENT 07

AIM

AN
To calculate the refractive index of the material of a prism by determining the angle of
minimum deviation.

PRACTICAL OUTCOMES

T
PA
Use spectrometer to calculate the refractive index of a given prism by determining the
angle of minimum deviation.

ADDITIONAL OUTCOMES

C,
On performing this experiment, student will be able to,

NI
 Choose proper unit system for an object of interest.

 Name the different parts of measuring instrument.

CH
 Find the least count of the given measuring instrument.

 Find the angle of minimum deviation for a given prism.

TE

 Calculate the prism angle and

APPRATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

LY

Spectrometer, prism, prism clamp, lamp, magnifying lens.

PRINCIPLE
PO

When a beam of light strikes on the

surface of transparent material (Glass,
water, quartz crystal, etc.), the portion of
the light is transmitted and the other
D.

portion is reflected. The transmitted

light ray has small deviation of the path
from the incident angle. This is called
K.

refraction.
Refraction is due to the change in speed
of light while passing through the
medium. It is given by Snell's Law.
sin 𝑖𝑖 𝜂𝜂1
=
sin 𝑟𝑟 𝜂𝜂2
Where, 𝑖𝑖 is the angle of incident and 𝑟𝑟 is the angle of refraction and 𝜂𝜂1 is the

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 1

 refractive index of the first face and 𝜂𝜂2 is the refractive index of the second face.
And the speed of light on both faces is related to the,
𝑣𝑣1 𝜂𝜂1
=
𝑣𝑣2 𝜂𝜂2

AN
Refractive index of the material of
prism:
The refractive index of the material of the
prism can be calculated by the equation.
𝐴𝐴 + 𝐷𝐷

T
sin � 2 �
𝜂𝜂 =
𝐴𝐴

PA
sin � 2 �
Where, D is the angle of minimum
deviation, here D is different for different
colour.

C,
PRELIMINARY ADJUSTMENTS

NI
1. Turn the telescope towards the white wall or screen and looking through eye-piece,
adjust its position till the cross wires are clearly seen.
2. Turn the telescope towards window, focus the telescope to a long distant object.
CH
3. Place the telescope parallel to collimator.
4. Place the collimator directed towards sodium vapor lamb. Switch on the lamp.
5. Focus collimator slit using collimator focusing adjustment.
TE

6. Adjust the collimator slit width.

7. Place prism table, note that the surface of the table is just below the level of telescope
and collimator.
LY

8. Place spirit level on prism table. Adjust the base leveling screw till the bubble come
at the center of spirit level.
PO

9. Clamp the prism holder.

10. Clamp the prism in which the sharp edge is facing towards the collimator, and base
of the prism is at the clamp.

OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATION

D.

 Least count of Spectrometer

K.

One main scale division (𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀) = __________𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚

Number of divisions on Vernier 𝑁𝑁 = _____________

𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀
𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 = = ____________
𝑁𝑁

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 2

PROCEDURE
 To determine the angle of the Prism:

N
1. Prism table is rotated in which the sharp edge of the prism is facing towards the
collimator.

TA
2. Rotate the telescope in one direction up to which the reflected ray is shown through
the telescope.
3. Note corresponding main scale and Vernier scale reading in both Vernier (Vernier I

PA
and Vernier II).
4. Rotate the telescope in opposite direction to view the reflected image of the collimator
from the second face of prism.
5. Note corresponding main scale and Vernier scale reading in both Vernier (Vernier I

C,
and Vernier II).
6. Find the difference between two readings, i.e. 𝜃𝜃

NI
7. Angle of prism, 𝐴𝐴 = 𝜃𝜃/2
Table 1: Measurement of the Angle of Prism: CH
Reading of
Reflected ray Vernier I Vernier II
from
TE

Total Total
MSR VSR 𝜃𝜃1 = 𝑀𝑀 + (𝑛𝑛 × 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿) MSR VSR 𝜃𝜃2 = 𝑀𝑀 + (𝑛𝑛 × 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿)
(𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚) (𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚)
LY

Face 1 (a)
PO

Face 2 (b)

Difference
𝜃𝜃 = (𝑎𝑎~𝑏𝑏)
D.

Mean 𝜃𝜃 = ___________

𝜃𝜃
Angle of prism 𝐴𝐴 = = __________
K.

 To determine the Angle of minimum deviation:

1. Rotate the Vernier table so that the light from the collimator falling on one of the
faces of the prism and emerges through the other face.
2. The telescope is turned to view the refracted image of the slit on the other face.

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 3

 3. The Vernier table is slowly turned in such a direction that the image of slit is move
directed towards the directed ray; i.e., in the direction of decreasing angle of
deviation.
4. It will be found that at a certain position, the image is stationary for some moment.

N
Vernier table is fixed at the position where the image remains stationary.

TA
5. Note the readings on main scale and Vernier scale.
6. Carefully remove the prism from the prism table.
7. Turn the telescope parallel to collimator, and note the direct ray readings.

PA
8. Find the difference between the direct ray readings and deviated readings. This angle
is called angle of minimum deviation (D).
Table 2: Measurement of angle of minimum deviation:

C,
RAY Vernier I Vernier II
Total Total
MSR VSR MSR VSR

NI
𝜃𝜃1 = 𝑀𝑀 + (𝑛𝑛 × 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿) 𝜃𝜃2 = 𝑀𝑀 + (𝑛𝑛 × 𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿)
(𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚) (𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚)

Reading of the CH
image in
minimum
deviation
position (𝑎𝑎)
TE

Reading of the
direct image
(𝑏𝑏)
Difference
LY

𝐷𝐷 = 𝑎𝑎~𝑏𝑏

CALCULATION
PO

Mean 𝐷𝐷 = ____________
Using the formula for refractive index of prism,
𝐴𝐴 + 𝐷𝐷
D.

sin �
𝜂𝜂 = 2 �
𝐴𝐴
sin � 2 �
K.

sin � �
∴ 𝜂𝜂 = 2
sin � 2 �
sin( )
∴ 𝜂𝜂 =
sin( )
∴ 𝜂𝜂 = ____________

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 4

RESULT
 Angle of the Prism 𝐴𝐴 = _________

N
 Angle of minimum deviation of the prism 𝐷𝐷 = ___________

TA
 Refractive index of the material of the prism 𝜂𝜂 = ____________

PPRECAUTIONS

PA
1) Same angle of prism should be used for all observations.
2) Position of the prism should not be disturbed for a given set of
observations.

C,
SOURCES OF ERROR
1) The three angles of refraction between adjacent pairs of faces are not

NI
equal.
2) There may be an error in measuring the values of the angles.

DISCUSSION
CH
1) Try to assess if the value of diameter obtained by you is realistic or not.
There may be an error by a factor of 10 or 100. You can obtain a very
rough estimation of the diameter of the wire by measuring its thickness
TE

with an ordinary meter scale.

2) Why does a screw gauge develop backlash error with use?
3) In the condition of minimum deviation, the refracted ray inside the prism
becomes parallel to its base so as to satisfy the condition 𝑟𝑟 = 𝑟𝑟′.
LY

4) The graph does not show a sharp minimum. We have same deviation for
a range of angle of incidence near minimum deviation. Therefore, extra
care should be taken in drawing tangential line to the 𝑖𝑖 → 𝛿𝛿 graph at
PO

minimum deviation.

SELF ASSESMENT
1) Interpret the graph between 𝑖𝑖 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝛿𝛿.
D.

2) If the experiment is performed with angle of emergence taken as angle of

incidence, will there be any change in the 𝛿𝛿 values. If yes, why? If not, why not?
K.

3) What will happen if you go on decreasing the angle of incidence? If you think
there is a minimum, try to find its expression theoretically. What happens when
𝑖𝑖 is less than the minimum angle of incidence?

SUGGESTED ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS/ACTIVITIES

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 5

 1) Use the following equation to calculate refractive index of the material of the
prism from the measured value of the angle 𝐴𝐴 and 𝛿𝛿𝑚𝑚 determined from the
graph.
2) Measure the angle of emergence e corresponding to the value of each angle of

N
incidence 𝑖𝑖 and angle of deviation 𝛿𝛿𝑚𝑚 you have observed. Compute the values of
(i + e) and (𝐴𝐴 + 𝛿𝛿𝑚𝑚 ) and see how they compare.

TA
3) Draw parallel horizontal lines cutting the 𝑖𝑖 → 𝛿𝛿 curve, you have drawn, at
various values of i and e. Find out the mid points of these horizontal lines and
join these mid points. What is the shape of the curve so obtained? If you find
that this shape resembles that of a straight line, find its (a) slope (b) y-intercept

PA
and (c) x-intercept.
4) Determine the refractive index of different liquids using a hollow prism by
plotting 𝑖𝑖 → 𝛿𝛿 graph.
5) Measure 𝑟𝑟 and 𝑟𝑟 ′ and 𝑒𝑒 from the figures you have drawn. Find the refractive

C,
index of the material of the prism from the values of 𝑖𝑖 and 𝑟𝑟 and 𝑒𝑒 and 𝑟𝑟′.

VIVA VOCE

NI
1. Which of the following statements is correct about constituents of white light
CH
based on the above observations?
a) White light consists of seven colours.
b) Violet colour suffers minimum deviation.
c) Red light suffers maximum deviation.
d) All the colours of the white light move with different speed in vacuum.
TE

2. The process of splitting white light into its seven constituent colours is called
a) Refraction
b) Dispersion
c) Scattering
LY

d) Reflection
3. The refractive indices of Kerosene, Turpentine and water are 1.44, 1.47 and 1.33
respectively. Light will have maximum speed in
a) Kerosene
PO

b) Turpentine
c) Water
d) Speed remains same for all
4. Which of the following colour is not present in the dispersion spectra of a prism?
a) Indigo
D.

b) Blue
c) Green
d) White
5. Which of the colour of light is maximum deviated when passed through a prism?
K.

a) Red
b) Violet
c) Blue
d) Green
6. The sky is blue because of
a) Reflection
b) Scattering

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 6

 c) Refraction
d) Dispersion
7. When a light beam enters into water from air then which of the following does not
change?
a) Velocity

N
b) Frequency
c) Wavelength

TA
d) Amplitude
8. Which of the following is observed when white light passes through a hollow prism?
a) Dispersion only
b) Deviation only

PA
c) Both dispersion and deviation
d) None of the above
9. Which ray is least deviated by a prism?
a) Violet ray
b) Green ray

C,
c) Red ray
d) Yellow ray
10. When white light is passed through a hollow prism then there is,
a) No dispersion and no deviation

NI
b) Only dispersion
c) Only deviation
d) Both dispersion and deviation CH
ASSESMENT SCHEME
TE

Sr. Performance Indicators for the Practical Weightage in Total Marks Marks
No. Outcomes % Obtained
1 Prepare of experimental setup 20 2
LY

2 Operate the equipment setup or circuit 20 2

3 Follow safe practices measures 10 1
2
PO

4 Record observations correctly 20

5 Interpret the result and conclude 30 3
TOTAL 100 10
D.

Signature of Teacher: __________________

K.

Experiment – 07 Refractive index of Prism 7