Figure 38 - Refraction of light. The rays bend away
From the normal on leaving the water
Refraction through a Prism. - A wedge-shaped portion of a refracting medium bounded by two plane surfaces is called a prism. If the medium of which the prism is composed is optically denser than the surrounding medium, a ray of light incident on one of the faces will be bent toward the normal to the face on entering the prism. On emerging from the opposite face, the ray will be going from a denser to a rarer medium and will be bent away from the normal at that face. The angle through which the ray has been deflected in passing through the prism is called the angle of deviation. When the angle at which the ray enters one face is equal to the angle at which it leaves the opposite face, the angle of deviation has its least value and is known as the angle of minimum deviation.
Critical Angle. - When a ray of light passes from a dense medium such as water to a rarer medium such as air, it is bent away from the normal so that the angle of refraction is greater than the angle of incidence. If the angle of incidence is made larger and larger, the angle of refraction will also become larger and larger and will always be greater than the corresponding angle of incidence. When the angle of incidence is increased sufficiently, the angle of refraction becomes 90 deg, and the refracted ray travels along the surface of separation between the two mediums. That angle of incidence for which the angle of refraction is 90 deg is called the critical angle [2, С. 103 - 104].