A beam of light passes from air into glass with a refractive index of 1.5. If the angle of incidence is 30 degrees, what is the angle of refraction?
Correct: B
The angle of refraction can be calculated using Snell's law, n1 sin(θ1) = n2 sin(θ2), where n1 is the refractive index of air, θ1 is the angle of incidence, n2 is the refractive index of glass, and θ2 is the angle of refraction. Given n1 = 1, θ1 = 30 degrees, and n2 = 1.5, we can rearrange the formula to find θ2 = arcsin((n1/n2) * sin(θ1)) = arcsin((1/1.5) * sin(30)) = arcsin(0.5/1.5) = arcsin(0.3333) ≈ 19.47 degrees, which rounds closest to 20 degrees among the given options.