Question

How different would the pattern look if a beam of white light had been used instead of the red laser? How would the index of refraction determined for the glass plate using white light compare the one obtained with the red laser? Explain.

Answer 1

If white light is used instead of red laser, then the pattern would be of different colors. The center spot would be white only, while as we move up or down the screen, it would be colorful.

For index of refraction, we would note down the angle of incidence of white light from air to glass plate and the refraction angle of middle color (= yellow), and then apply Snell's law to get the required value of refractive index.

In case of red laser, there would only by one color (= red), so we would note the same and apply Snell's law.