When light goes through a prism, it bends and creates a rainbow of colors. This bending is called refraction, and it happens as the light moves into and out of the prism.
Refraction: When light moves from one place (like air) into another (like glass), it changes speed and bends. This bending is explained by a rule called Snell's Law. But don’t worry about the math! The main idea is that light changes direction when it enters a different material.
Dispersion: Light has many colors, each with a different wavelength. Violet light has a shorter wavelength (about 380-450 nm), while red light has a longer wavelength (about 620-750 nm). Because of this, violet light bends more than red light when it goes through the prism. This is what causes the colors to spread out and form a spectrum.
A typical prism is shaped like a triangle. When white light (which includes all colors) enters the prism:
Each color bends differently based on its wavelength. Here are some rough values for how much different colors bend:
From this information, we see that red light exits the prism more than violet light does. This is why we see the colors of the rainbow!
The visible spectrum can be seen as the colors of a rainbow, which are:
Each color covers a certain range of wavelengths:
By bending and spreading out light, a prism turns white light into a beautiful spectrum of colors. This shows us how light behaves and helps us learn more about how optics works. Understanding how light interacts with a prism is a cool entry point into the study of light and its many properties!
When light goes through a prism, it bends and creates a rainbow of colors. This bending is called refraction, and it happens as the light moves into and out of the prism.
Refraction: When light moves from one place (like air) into another (like glass), it changes speed and bends. This bending is explained by a rule called Snell's Law. But don’t worry about the math! The main idea is that light changes direction when it enters a different material.
Dispersion: Light has many colors, each with a different wavelength. Violet light has a shorter wavelength (about 380-450 nm), while red light has a longer wavelength (about 620-750 nm). Because of this, violet light bends more than red light when it goes through the prism. This is what causes the colors to spread out and form a spectrum.
A typical prism is shaped like a triangle. When white light (which includes all colors) enters the prism:
Each color bends differently based on its wavelength. Here are some rough values for how much different colors bend:
From this information, we see that red light exits the prism more than violet light does. This is why we see the colors of the rainbow!
The visible spectrum can be seen as the colors of a rainbow, which are:
Each color covers a certain range of wavelengths:
By bending and spreading out light, a prism turns white light into a beautiful spectrum of colors. This shows us how light behaves and helps us learn more about how optics works. Understanding how light interacts with a prism is a cool entry point into the study of light and its many properties!