REFRACTION LAB

Snell's Law · Total Internal Reflection · Prisms · Dispersion
Tools:

Materials

1.000
1.520

Display Options

How to use

Drag the laser body to change the angle of incidence. The pivot point on the boundary stays fixed.
Drag the small orange dot on the boundary to move the experiment laterally.
Tick “Show calculation” to reveal the working and the value of θ₂.
Measuring tools — drag the protractor or light meter icon from the shelf above the canvas onto the workspace.
Protractor: drag the body anywhere; right-click (or long-press on touch) to remove.
Light meter: drag the body or sensor tip independently; place the tip in a beam to read intensity. Drop multiple meters from the tray to monitor several beams at once. Right-click (or long-press on touch) the body or tip to remove that meter.
Precision nudge — for fine adjustments near the critical angle:
1. Click the laser body to select it (it gains a dashed glow).
2. Press ← or → to nudge the angle by 0.5°.
3. Hold Shift while pressing ← or → for fine nudge of 0.025°.
Click any empty area of the canvas to deselect.
(Works on Mac, Windows, Linux, and iPad with external keyboard.)
On touch devices — tap a tool icon to arm it (it gets an amber outline), then tap the canvas to place. Tap-and-hold (long-press) any placed item to remove it. For the zoom tool, tap the magnifier icon and then drag a rectangle on the canvas.
Tools:
Objects:

Light Source

Display

Selected Block

Drag a block onto the canvas, then click it to set its material here.

How to use

Drag the raybox to reposition; drag the orange dot at the front to aim the beam.
Drag a glass block from the tool shelf onto the canvas. Drag the block body to move it; drag a corner handle to rotate.
Click a block to select it and set its material in the panel above. Click the raybox to open its inspector and switch between single ray and parallel beam.
Right-click (or long-press on touch) any item to remove.
On touch devices — tap a tool icon to arm it (it gets an amber outline), then tap the canvas to place. Tap-and-hold (long-press) any placed item to remove it. For the zoom tool, tap the magnifier icon and then drag a rectangle on the canvas.