What Is the Effect of a Liquid's Temperature on Its Index of Refraction?

Overview

Objectives/Goals What is the effect of a liquid#s temperature on its index of refraction? This experiment attempts to answer this central question. Methods/Materials To test the hypothesis, a Helium-Neon Laser was shown into a liquid at varying temperatures. Using a refractometer that held the liquid, the angle of refraction was determined and then the index of refraction was computed. A plot of temperature vs. index of refraction was generated and a trendline was fit to the data. This procedure was repeated for four different liquids. Results For every liquid, the results showed that as the temperature increased, the index of refraction decreased. Surprisingly, the change in the index of refraction with temperature was found to be consistent for all four liquids that were tested. Conclusions/Discussion It was concluded that in every case the index of refraction decreased as the temperature increased. Interesting, the rate of decrease of the index of refraction was nearly identical for all four liquids.

Competition history

• CSEF 2006 Physics & Astronomy · Entry S1513

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