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Grade 8General Physics

The refractive index of diamond is much greater than that of ordinary glass. Is this fact of some use to a diamond cutter?

Profile image of prasanjeet kumar
12 Years agoGrade 8
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1 Answer

Profile image of Apoorva Arora
12 Years ago
Yes
The refractive index of diamond (2.42) is more than that of ordinary glass (1.5). The critical angle for diamond is less than that for glass. A diamond cutter uses a large angle of incidence to ensure that the light entering the diamond is totally reflected from its faces. This is the reason for the sparkling effect of a diamond.
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Apoorva Arora
IIT Roorkee
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