A beam of light travels from sapphire into an unknown material. The angle of incidence is 45o and the angle of refraction is 57o. What is the refractive index of the unknown material? What material is this likely to be?
Snell's Law
n1/n2 = sin 2 / sin 1
The refractive index of sapphire is n1 =1.76
1.76/n2 = sin(57)/sin(45) there fore n2 = 1.48 which is approx the refractive index of glycerin