Prism Experiment
Newton was the first to experiment with light flowing through a prism. He allowed sunlight to pass through the prism, expecting to see white light on the other side of the screen, but instead saw the spectrum of light after dispersion. He had a little intuition about the relevance of this, but he choose to do something else to prove it.
By adjusting the size of the intake, he was able to enable just one color (and hence only one wavelength of light) to flow through the prism. Obviously, the light ray was refracted and did not disperse farther.
As a result, he recognized that various colors of the light spectrum bend differently because they have distinct wavelengths. He discovered that violet bent the most and red bent the least due to their shorter and longer wavelengths, respectively.
Check: Scattering of Light
What is Dispersion of Light?
Dispersion of Light- Aren’t rainbows beautiful? Have you ever wondered how a rainbow comes to be? It is a basic physics phenomenon known as light dispersion. So, what exactly is light dispersion?
When white light is transmitted through a prism, it is split into seven component colors. A prism is a transparent optical device with flat, polished surfaces that refract light. Refraction of light refers to the change in the direction of propagation of light as it passes through a different medium.
Table of Content
- What is Refraction of Light?
- What is Dispersion of Light?
- Dispersion of Light Through a Prism
- Prism Experiment
- Visible Light Spectrum
- Rainbow
- Atmospheric Refraction