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AP Physics 2
13.3 Refraction
AdvancedMCQProportional AnalysisConceptual22.1k
A horizontal line represents a flat boundary separating two media: the lower region is labeled glass with index n_{glass}, and the upper region is labeled liquid with index n_{liquid}. A vertical dashed line perpendicular to the boundary acts as the normal line. A light ray arrow in the glass region originates from the lower-left and travels toward the origin where the normal intersects the boundary, making an angle \theta_i with the vertical normal line. A second light ray arrow continues into the upper liquid region, bending away from the normal with an angle \theta_r relative to the vertical normal line, where \theta_r > \theta_i. No other labels, lines, text, or axes appear.
Light ray incident on the glass-liquid interface at room temperature.
A monochromatic light beam traveling inside a glass block of refractive index \(n_{\text{glass}}\rangle\) strikes a flat interface with an adjacent liquid of refractive index \(n_{\text{liquid}}\), where \(n_{\text{glass}} > n_{\text{liquid}}\). The refractive index of the liquid decreases as its temperature increases, while \(n_{\text{glass}}\) remains constant. At room temperature, the angle of incidence \(\theta_i\) at the interface is fixed at a value slightly less than the critical angle \(\theta_c\), so light refracts into the liquid. As the temperature of the liquid is gradually increased, how does the critical angle \(\theta_c\) change, and what change is observed in the light beam at the interface?

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