Question

A beam of light passes through 285.60 cm of water of index 1.3330, the through 15.40 cm of glass of index 1.6360, and finally through 174.20 cm of oil of index 1.3870. Find to three significant figures, (a) each of the separate optical paths and (b) the total optical path.

Answer 1

Answer:

Given, a beam of light passes through the length of water d1 = 285.60 cm and index of refraction of water is nw = 1.3330. Then the optical path L1 = d1nw = (285.60 cm) (1.3330) = 380.70 cm.

Next step is the beam of light passes through the length of glass d2 = 15.40 cm and index of refraction of glass is ng = 1.6360. Then the optical path L2 = d2ng = (15.40 cm) (1.6360) = 25.19 cm.

After that the beam of light passes through the length of glass d3 = 174.20 cm and index of refraction of oil is no = 1.3870.

Then, the optical path L3 = d3no= (174.20 cm) (1.3870) = 241.61 cm

Therefore, the total optical path L = L1 + L2 + L3 = (380.70 cm) + (25.19 cm) + (174.20 cm) = 647.50 cm.