Mission RL6: TIR and Critical Angle

Mission RL6 pertains to the concept of a critical angle and the relationship between the critical angle and the tendency of a light ray with a stated angle of incidence to undergo total internal reflection. The mission consists of 38 questions organized into 10 Question Groups. You must answer one question from each Question Group to complete the mission. The learning outcomes for this mission are ...
 

Learning Outcomes

• The student should be able to define critical angle and use the concept to determine whether a light ray would undergo total internal reflection in any given situation.
• The student should be able to combine a conceptual and mathematical understanding of critical angle in order to compare critical angles for different boundaries if given a diagram or index of refraction values.

 

Launch Mission RL6

 

Getting Help

If you are not familiar with this topic, then you should first learn about the topic using our written Tutorial or our Video Tutorial:
 

The Physics Classroom, Refraction and Lenses Unit, Lesson 3, Part b

The Physics Classroom, Refraction and Lenses Unit, Lesson 3, Part c
 

• What does the critical angle refer to?
• What happens at the boundary when the angle of incidence is less than the critical angle?
• What happens at the boundary when the angle of incidence is equal to the critical angle?
• What happens at the boundary when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle?
• What are the two requirements for total internal reflection to occur?
• If given two medium, from what side of the boundary must the light approach in order for total internal reflection to be possible?
• How is the index of refraction value related to the density of a medium?
• How can index of refraction values be used to determine the critical angle for a given boundary?

 

Video Tutorials:

Total Internal Reflection

The Critical Angle

 

 

Question-Specific Help

Each Question Group has its own Help page with information specific to the question. You can access the Help page from within the mission by tapping on the Help Me! icon (textbook). For your convenience, links to those pages are provided below: