Define lateral displacement.Illustrate it with a diagram.List any two factors on which lateral displacement in a particular substance depends.

de perpendicular distance between de emergent ray & de incident ray produced when refraction takes place through a rectangular glass slab

Refraction occurs when the speed changes when the lights travels from one medium to another medium. If the light travels from a medium to a denser medium, the light slows down and consequently is refracted towards the normal.thus the distance by which the light has been displaced after its binding thru a glass slab is known as lateral displacement If the light travels from one medium to a less dense medium, the speed increases and as a result, the light is refracted away from the normal.
according to Snell's law.....refractive index is the ratio of sine of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction.

• hickness of glass slab
• angle of incidence
• refractive index of glass slab
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• Lateral displacement is directly proportional to the above three factors.
• It is inversely proportional to the wavelength of incident light.