STUDY 26 / OPTICS

Prism.

One beam in. Every colour out.

REFRACTION AND DISPERSIONINTERACTIVE STUDY

SIMPLE RULES. INFINITE MOTION.

MAKE IT YOUR OWN

A change of pace.

A beam of white light bends as it enters a glass prism and bends again as it leaves. Glass slows violet light more than red, so each wavelength turns by a slightly different angle and the beam fans into a spectrum on the screen. A lamp swings below and to the left of the prism, changing where and how steeply the beam strikes it, and the spectrum climbs and falls on the screen as the angle passes through least deviation. Widen the apex angle to spread the colours further, until at the steepest angles the most strongly bent light is trapped by total internal reflection. Guides draw the surface normals and the laws behind each turn.

Playback speed 1.00×

Apex angle (°)55

Construction guides

Small adjustments. New perspectives.
Take your time exploring.

WITH MOTION, FORM BECOMES POSSIBILITY.Next study: Articulated form