What effects displacement of a ray of light?

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Investigation: What effects displacement of a ray of light?

Variables

* The angle the light hits the block at

* The width of the block

* The colour of the light

* Light intensity

Predictions

* The larger the angle the larger the displacement. (See Diagram)

In the diagram I have used snell's law to find the refracted angle, Snell's law is that for glass

Sin i

Sin r = 1.5

By using this I have been able to work out accurate results without doing an experiment.

* The displacement will be directly proportional to the width of the block.

I.e. The wider the block the larger the displacement

E.g. if you double the thickness of the block then the displacement will double

(See Diagram)

Plan 1

The apparatus that I need for the experiment is

Protractor

2 Ray Box

3 Ruler

4 Blank page

5 Glass block

6 Power Pack

The measurements to be taken are: the size of the blocks

: The size of the displacement

5 readings will be taken; this is because a large range of results is required to draw an accurate graph. A ruler will be used to measure the displacement and thickness and a protractor will be used to measure the angle. The experiment will be repeated twice to give a range of measurements
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The test will be kept fair by making sure that the controlled variables are kept the same throughout all the experiments.

The main controlled variables are:

Colour of light- white light must be used in every experiment as the colour of light may affect the displacement.

Angle-When changing the thickness the angle must be kept constant, as changing the angle will affect the displacement

Thickness- when changing the angle the thickness must be kept constant, as changing the thickness will affect the displacement

Material- different types of material will displace light by different ...

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