PhET Simulation: Snell’s Law

This fun, engaging, inquiry-based physics lab is a great way to get your students interested in the refraction of light and Snell’s Law. The online lab uses the Bending Light HTML5 simulation from PhET Interactive Simulations. The simulation can be run from most cellphones, tablets and computers. Nothing to download or install. The link for the simulation can be found inside the resource.

In the first activity students will learn how to draw ray diagrams for light as it enters, travels through and then exits a material with a greater index of refraction than the surrounding environment. In the second activity students will collect data that they will use to derive the equation that describes the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction when light passes across a boundary between two materials with different indices of refraction, such as water, glass, or air. This is known as Snell’s Law and is used in ray tracing to compute the angles of incidence or refraction, and in experimental optics to find the refractive index of a material. In the final section, they will then use Snell’s Law to calculate the angles and the indices of refraction.

PhET simulations incorporate research based, student centered activities that are fun and easy to use. All of the PhET simulations are available from their website: hET Interactive Simulations. This PhET online simulation can be done in the classroom or during distance learning.

This product includes:
(1) The lab activity worksheets.
(2) An answer key for the worksheets.
(3) Notes covering a full description of the refraction of light, index of refraction and Snell’s law.