Question

The refractive index of dense flint glass is 1.65 and for alcohol it is 1.36 with respect to air, What is the refractive index of dense flint glass with respect to alcohol?

Answer 1

Hint: The refractive index of a substance is a dimensionless number that describes how fast light passes through a substance. It is defined as the ratio of c is the speed of light in a vacuum and v is the phase speed of light in the medium.

Complete step by step solution:
Given that
refractive index for flint glass with respect to air $\mu _1 = 1.65$
refractive index for alcohol with respect to air $\mu _2 = 1.36$
now refractive index of glass with respect to alcohol $\mu _3$.
$\Rightarrow$ ${\mu _3 = }\dfrac{{{{\mu _1}}}}{{{\mu _2}}}$
$\Rightarrow$ ${{\mu _3 = }}\dfrac{{{\text{1}}{\text{.65}}}}{{1.36}}$
$\therefore {{ \mu _3 = 1}}{\text{.21}} $
Thus, the refractive index of dense flint glass with respect to alcohol $\mu _3$ is equal to 1.21.

Additional Information: Refractive index, also called index of refraction, is the measurement of the bending of a beam of light while passing from one medium to another. If i is the angle of incidence of the ray in a vacuum, and r is the angle of refraction, and refractive index is defined as the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence of the sine of the angle of refraction.
$i.e.,{\text{ refractive index n = }}\dfrac{{\sin {\text{ i}}}}{{\sin {\text{ r}}}}$
The refractive index is equal to the speed of light c of a given wave in empty space divided by its velocity in the material
$ or,{\text{ n = }}\dfrac{c}{v}$

Note: The refractive index of a medium is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the medium, therefore it has no unit, and is unitless. The refractive index of a medium is (to some extent) dependent on the frequency of light, with the highest value being n with the highest frequencies.