Rays from a point source of light situated at height $h$ below the liquid surface having refractive index…

Rays from a point source of light situated at height $h$ below the liquid surface having refractive index $\mu$, forms a circular patch of light of radius $r$ on the surface. The area of the patch is
  1. $\frac{\pi}{h\left(\mu^2-1\right)}$
  2. $\frac{\pi h}{\left(\mu^2-1\right)}$
  3. $\frac{\pi h^2}{\left(\mu^2-1\right)}$
  4. $\frac{\pi h^2}{\sqrt{\left(\mu^2-1\right)}}$

Solution

Consider the figure as shown below: Area of the light patch $=\pi r^2$ We know the patch forms due to total internal reflection. Light rays from source $S$ are incident at the edge of the circular path at critical angle $\theta_{\mathrm{C}}$ (as shown at points $\mathrm{P}$ and $\mathrm{Q}$ ), the refracted ray exits at angle $\frac{\pi}{2}$ w.r.t. the normal. Using Snell's Law $\begin{aligned} & \therefore \mu\left(\sin \theta_C\right)=1\left(\sin \left(\frac{\pi}{2}\right)\right) \\ & \Rightarrow \sin \theta_C=\frac{1}{\mu}=\frac{r}{\sqrt{h^2+r^2}} \\ & \Rightarrow r^2=\frac{\left(h^2+r^2\right)}{\mu^2} \\ & \Rightarrow r^2=\frac{h^2}{\left(\mu^2-1\right)} \end{aligned}$ $\therefore$ Area of the patch $=\left(\frac{\pi h^2}{\mu^2-1}\right)$

Asked in: MHT CET 2022 (10 Aug Shift 1)

Practice more Optics questions on Aicharya