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A ray of light, no matter what its wavelength is, entering one face of the prism along

the normal, continues along the same direction straight into the glass, just as it does

when it enters a window-pane or any other medium along the normal. Since the faces

of the prism are not parallel, however, the ray of light does not approach the next

face along the normal, and it refracts there as it traverses the glass/air interface.

There, the angle of refraction depends slightly on the wavelength, so the colors

spread somewhat as they cross that boundary.

If the faces of the window-pane were not parallel, then most of the things you see

through the window would have pretty colored bands around it. It would be a total

nuisance.

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Q: What happens to the ray of light when it goes straight into the prism along the normal?
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