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Question

When light enters a glass prism from air at the first refracting surface, the light ray ____________

The correct answer is
Bends towards the normal, as it enters a denser medium

Light Refraction at Prism's First Surface

When light travels from air into a glass prism, it moves from one medium to another, causing refraction.

Air is an optically less dense medium compared to glass. Light travels slower when it enters an optically denser medium.

According to the principle of refraction, when a light ray passes from a less dense medium (air) to a denser medium (glass), it bends towards the normal. The normal is a line perpendicular to the surface at the point where the light ray strikes.

  • Option 1 is incorrect: Total internal reflection occurs when light moves from a denser to a less dense medium under specific conditions, not the other way around.
  • Option 3 is incorrect: Bending away from the normal occurs when light enters a less dense medium.
  • Option 4 is incorrect: Light passes straight through without bending only if it is incident normally (at 0 degrees to the normal).

Therefore, the light ray bends towards the normal as it enters the denser medium of the glass prism.

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Important Questions from Physics

  1. Two balls, A and B, are thrown simultaneously, a vertically upward with a speed of 20 m/s from the ground and B vertically downward from a height of 40 m with the same speed and along the same line of motion. At what points do the two balls collide by taking acceleration due to gravity as 9.8 m/s 2?

  2. On the basis of which principle does soap clean surfaces?

  3. Which one of the following devices is used to measure atmospheric pressure?

  4. Which one of the following energy is stored in the links between the atoms?

  5. Who among the following has explained the phenomenon of photoelectric effect?

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