Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A ray of light in air meets a rectangular glass block () of thickness . The angle of incidence is . Find the angle of refraction inside the block, the sideways shift of the emergent ray, and the time that the light spends in the glass.
Snell's law is , with the angles measured from the normal. The critical angle for light that goes from to a smaller is . Light is totally reflected when the angle of incidence is larger than . In a material, .
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Given. , and .
Step 1. The angle of refraction. , so .
Step 2. The shift. .
Step 3. The path in the glass. The path length is .
Step 4. The time. The speed in glass is . The time is .
Answer: , and .
Check. The emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray, so the second face bends the ray back by the same angle .
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