Question

Absolute refractive index of a material depends upon:
This question has multiple correct options
(A) Frequency of incident light
(B) Size of material
(C) Density and temperature of material
(D) Wavelength of incident light

Answer 1

Hint:An absolute refractive index is the physical quantity which can be defined as the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum with the speed of light in medium. It is denoted by “n”. Since it is the ratio of two similar quantities, it has no dimension.

Complete step by step answer:
With the increase in temperature the optical density decreases, as a result there is an increase in speed of the light which ultimately increases an absolute refractive index.
Also, the different wavelengths of an incident light have different refractive index. It can be defined as $n = \dfrac{{{\lambda _v}}}{{{\lambda _m}}}$.
Where, ${\lambda _v} = $the wavelength in the vacuum
And ${\lambda _m} = $ the wavelength in any medium
Thus the required answer – An absolute refractive index of a material depends upon the density and the temperature of the material. It also depends on the wavelength of the incident light.

Hence, from the given multiple choices – the option C and the option D are the correct answer.

Note: The value of an absolute refractive index concludes the extent to which the light is refracted when entering or leaving the substance. The speed of light travels faster than any other in the vacuum. Materials with large indices of the refraction are called an optically dense media. An absolute index is always greater than one.