PASCO OS-8170A Brewster’s Angle Accessory - Manual (Page 22)

Brewster’s Angle Accessory Model No. OS-8170A
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III. Snell’s Law
For the data from the first part of part II, graph Sin (incident angle) vs. Sin (refracted angle). The
slope of the line is the refraction index of the acrylic plastic.
In DataStudio, create the following equations:
a) refracted angle=Oi-x(deg), where Oi is the incident angle, and x is the arm angle in
degrees.
b) sin incident = sin(x), where x is the incident angle (degrees).
c) sin refracted = sin(x), where x is refracted angle (degrees).
For instructions on creating equations, see Appendix A or the DataStudio online help.
Acknowledgements
The Brewster’s Angle experiment was developed using original ideas from P.J. Ouseph,
Professor of Physics at University of Louisville, KY, from an American Journal of Physics
article titled “Polarization of Light by Reflection and the Brewster Angle”, Vol. 69, page 1166
(2001), by P.J. Ouseph, Kevin Driver, and John Conklin.
Modifications to the Brewster’s Angle experiment were suggested by Cristian Bahrim and Wei-
Tai Hsu in an American Journal of Physics article titled “Precise measurement of the reflective
indices for dielectrics using an improved Brewster Angle method”, Vol. 77, page 337 (2009).
Sample Data: Incident Angle vs. Refracted Angle