Conclusion and Applications

On this page you can find the results of the experiment and how they may be used in a real world application.

So I calculated the index of refraction of gelatin to be roughly 1.28. Given it's translucent nature and it's density, I would say that number is very nearly correct.
So what does that junk mean? To you probably nothing. So I will try to explain it and relate it to a common worldly thing. (A scientific parable;What a contradiction.)

Most simply, it means that light travels 1.28 times slower in a gelatinous medium. That's 2.343e8 m/s as compared to 3e8 m/s in a vacuum(which is a speed never to be exceeded.)

While the applications of this experiment aren't life-changing, they are certainly life enhancing.
What do I mean? Well.... if you have any sort of impaired vision issues, your corrective lenses, be they glasses or otherwise, have all been developed using Snell's law. The normal human eye has an index of refraction of 1.33- 1.41, and if you aren't within this index range, your eyes aren't going to be able to make the light rays converge on your retina in time to see a focused image. By changing the index of refraction, your eyes receive a light ray coming from a different angle than what it would have normally hit your eye with.
Another slightly interesting application of Snell's law is in forensics. Scientist's text the index of refraction of broken glass to determine if the crime scene is consistent or if they should expect contamination from the suspect.

A much more delicious application includes that of its use in the candy companies. Especially those in the hard candy business, Snell's law is a very easy way to measure the amount of sugar in a supersaturated hard candy solution.

Finally, anyone who works in fiber optics can thank this law for their job. Snell's Law basically created the fiber optics discipline and the  concept of total internal refraction.