Can you reproduce Pink Floyds album cover Dark Side of Moon at home using a glass prism?

Answer 1

Yes.

The separation of the different colors is an effect on the different colors of light called Dispersion. Dispersion simply means that light of different colors travels through the glass at different rates of speed. The rate of speed that a color of light travels through the glass also determines at what angle it is bent as it transitions from the air and into the glass. On the Pink Floyd album cover, it shows red traveling the fastest in the glass, which produces the smallest change in angle between the incident "white" light and the separated colors. Blue travels the slowest of the visible colors and therefore makes the largest bend when it enters the glass prism. Each color propagates across the glass prism and the light is then bent again as it exits the glass. The angle is again dependent upon the speed that the color of light travels inside the glass. In the air there is no dispersion of visible light that can be observed by eye under normal conditions. That means that all the colors travel at the same speed in air.

This Wikipedia article is useful if you would like to learn more in depth information about this subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispersion_%28optics%29