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When light passes through a medium boundary - from air to glass, for example - and if it strikes that boundary at an angle of incidence that is less than 90o, (that is, the light does not strike perpendicular to the boundary), then the light diffracts, or bends, or changes direction slightly.

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The angle of diffraction - the amount the light bends - depends upon two things: the difference in the diffraction index between the two mediums, and the wavelength. The diffraction angle is proportionate to the wavelength - meaning that the longer the wavelength of the light, the greater angle the light bends as it crosses the medium boundary.

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Since red light has a longer wavelength than blue light does, red light diffracts, or bends, at a greater angle than blue light bends when they both strike the prism at the same angle of incidence. White light contains all the colors of the rainbow. So when white light strikes a prism, the red component of the white light bends at a greater angle than the blue light, and so we see a fanning out of light - red at one side of the fan, blue at the other side.

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