Collection 27 About Star on GitHub

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STUDY 26 / OPTICS

Prism.

White light split into colors.

REFRACTION AND DISPERSIONINTERACTIVE STUDY

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CONTROLS

How it works.

White light bends when it enters a glass prism and again when it leaves. Glass slows violet light more than red, so each color bends by a different amount and the beam spreads into a spectrum on the screen. The lamp moves, changing the angle at which the beam hits the prism, so the spectrum moves up and down the screen and turns back at the angle of least deviation. A wider apex angle spreads the colors further. At the widest angles, the most strongly bent light can’t get out and reflects back inside (total internal reflection). Guides show the surface normals and the formulas used.

Playback speed 1.00×

Apex angle (°)55

Construction guides

The reset button restores the default settings.

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