Year 11 - Science
Refraction through a rectangular block (including wave front diagrams)
Electromagnetic waves
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores reflection, refraction, and lenses using ray diagrams. It covers the electromagnetic spectrum, light as a wave, absorption, transmission, and practical uses. Emphasis is on risks, temperature balance, data presentation, and unit conversions.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe what refraction is, draw accurate diagrams of refraction and use the idea of wavefronts to explain what causes refraction.
Key Notes
- Refraction is when waves travel from one transparent medium to another, causing a change in direction.
- When waves slow down, they turn towards the normal line (angle of incidence > angle of refraction).
- When waves speed up, they turn away from the normal line (angle of incidence < angle of refraction).
- Refraction can be investigated using a clear rectangular block, ray box and narrow slit, pencil, paper and a protractor.
- Refraction occurs when one side of a wavefront enters the new medium before the other, causing a change in wave speed.
Vocabulary To Learn
- refraction: Refraction occurs when waves travel from one transparent medium to another, causing a change in wave speed and direction.
- normal: The normal is an imaginary line drawn at 90° to a surface.
- angle of incidence: The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal.
- angle of refraction: The angle of refraction is the angle between the refracted ray and the normal.
- wavefront: Wavefronts are lines drawn to represent the peaks of a wave.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Pupils sometimes rote-learn what specific examples of refraction look like, rather than developing a more general understanding of the direction waves turn based on changes in wave speed.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
Refraction is when waves travel from one transparent medium to another, causing a change in direction. When waves slow down, they turn towards the normal line (angle of incidence > angle of refraction).
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'refraction'
Refraction occurs when waves travel from one transparent medium to another, causing a change in wave speed and direction. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: Pupils sometimes rote-learn what specific examples of refraction look like, rather than developing a more general understanding of the direction waves turn based on changes in wave speed. Correction: Teach pupils the general theory of refraction and apply it to a variety of different examples where wave speed changes (e.g. sound waves refract in the opposite direction to light at an air-glass boundary due to the different wave speeds).
More Lessons In This Unit
- Absorbing infrared radiation practical Study Guide
- Converging lenses Study Guide
- Convex lenses Study Guide
- Convex lenses (including magnification) Study Guide
- Dispersion of light and electromagnetic radiation Study Guide
- Dispersion of light and electromagnetic waves Study Guide
- Emitters of infrared & black body radiation Study Guide
- Emitting infrared and black body radiation Study Guide
- Emitting infrared radiation Study Guide
- Ionising electromagnetic radiation Study Guide
- Light and colour Study Guide
- Non-ionising electromagnetic radiation Study Guide
- Non-ionising electromagnetic radiations Study Guide
- Reflection of light Study Guide
- Reflection of light (including specular and diffuse) Study Guide
- Refraction through a rectangular block Study Guide
- Refraction through a semicircular block Study Guide
- Refraction through a semicircular block (including TIR) Study Guide
- Scale diagrams for converging lenses Study Guide
- Scale diagrams for convex lenses Study Guide
- Scale diagrams for convex lenses (including magnification) Study Guide
- The spectrum of electromagnetic radiation Study Guide
- The spectrum of electromagnetic waves Study Guide
- Virtual images from converging and diverging lenses Study Guide
- Virtual images from convex and concave lenses Study Guide
- Virtual images from convex and concave lenses (including magnification) Study Guide
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