Refractive Index of Air with Respect to Glass

To find the refractive index of air with respect to glass, we need to use Snell's law which states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is equal to the ratio of the refractive indices of the two media.

Formula

The formula for Snell's law is given as:

n1 sinθ1 = n2 sinθ2

Where,
n1 = refractive index of medium 1
n2 = refractive index of medium 2
θ1 = angle of incidence
θ2 = angle of refraction

Calculation

We know the refractive indices of water and glass with respect to air, which are 1.33 and 1.52 respectively. To find the refractive index of air with respect to glass, we need to use the following formula:

nair/glass = nglass/air = 1/nglass/air

Substituting the values, we get:

nair/glass = 1/1.52

nair/glass = 0.657

Therefore, the refractive index of air with respect to glass is 0.657.

Explanation

The refractive index is a measure of how much a ray of light bends when passing from one medium to another. In this case, we are interested in finding how much a ray of light bends when passing from glass to air. The refractive index of air with respect to glass is the ratio of the refractive index of glass with respect to air to the refractive index of air with respect to glass. We use Snell's law to find the angle of refraction and then calculate the refractive index.