A didactic reformulation of the laws of refraction of light

Abstract

In this work, an alternative formulation of the laws of refraction of light is presented. The proposed formulation unifies the two established laws of refraction, and it is shown the correspondence between the new and the classic formulations. This new formulation presents a remarkable didactic interest for the conceptual interpretation and resolution of typical problems related to the phenomenon of refraction of light, such as those proposed to students of geometric optics in their first year of college. As an example, this formulation is applied to the resolution of two refraction problems typically assigned to students of such educational level. Results and comments from the students are presented.

Lei da reflexão, lei de Snell e efeito Goos-Hänchen: abordagem via modelo corpuscular da luz

“…Apesar de serem leis bem estabelecidas e já amplamente incorporadas nos livros didáticos,é interessante observar a existência de trabalhos relativamente recentes que procuram novas formulações para expressar as leis da reflexão e da refração. Nas referências [3] e [4], por exemplo, as leis da reflexão e refração são apresentadas de maneira reformuladas, permitindo a abordagem de alguns problemas daóptica geométrica de modo mais simples e intuitivo.…”