At which angle must a laser beam enter the water for no refraction to occur?

Question

Rose Davis

Physics

8 January, 08:49

At which angle must a laser beam enter the water for no refraction to occur?

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Answers (1)

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Beatrice Mueller · Answer 1

Light that enters the new medium perpendicular to the surface keeps sailing straight through the new medium unrefracted (in the same direction).

Perpendicular to the surface is the "normal" to the surface. So the angle of incidence (angle between the laser and the normal) is zero, and the law of refraction (just like the law of reflection) predicts an angle of zero between the normal and the refracted (or the reflected) beam.

Moral of the story: If you want your laser to keep going in the same direction after it enters the water, or to bounce back in the same direction it came from when it hits the mirror, then shoot it straight on to the surface, perpendicular to it.