Earlier this week, we used semi-circular perspex blocks to investigate total internal reflection.
I’ve put together a short video showing total internal reflection in a semicircular block and a perspex model of an optical fibre.
total internal reflection from mr mackenzie on Vimeo.
There are some nice ray diagrams explaining total internal reflection on BBC Bitesize.
Cyberphysics has some examples of how optical fibers are used and the youtube video below shows how they can be used by doctors to see inside a patient’s body.