An incident ray strikes a boundary at a 72.5-degree angle, resulting in an angle of refraction of 39.6 degrees. The index of refraction of the first medium is 1.0003.

What is medium 1?

What is medium 2?

A. Medium 1 is air. The refractive index of air is 1.0003. Refractive index is a measure of the bending of a ray of light when passing from one medium to another. If i is the angle of incidence of a ray in vacuum and r is the angle of refraction, the refractive index n is defined as the ratio of the sine angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction; that is, n = sin i / sin r. Refractive index may also be given by the velocity of light in medium 1 divided by the velocity of light in medium 2.

b. In this case the refractive index = sin 72.5/sin 39.6

= 1.4962

but n = x / 1.0003 = 1.4962

Therefore; x = 1.4967

Hence the refractive index of medium 2 is 1.4967.

I therefore think that medium 2 is toluene; since it has a similar refractive index.