Why does a prism break down white light into all colors?

Answer 1

Answer

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.

Answer 2

because the density of those mediums are able to slow down light, exposing the rainbow that it consists of.

Answer 3

White light is composed of all of the colours of the spectrum (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Indigo and Violet), all of which are of different wavelengths.

Glass (or any other 'refractive' substance) causes refraction, or bending, of the incoming light beam, but refracts, or bends, each wavelength (colour) to a different degree.

For example, red light is refracted less than orange, which refracts less than yellow and so on until violet, which is refracted the most. This varied bending therefore causes the initial white light beam to spread out as it passes through the glass.

The amount that a substance refracts light of different wavelengths is known as its refractive index.

Answer 4

Visible light is made up of different colours, which form a Rainbow. White light is composed of all the colours in this rainbow. Each of these colours has a different wavelengths, with red being the highest and violet being the lowest. When white light enters a prism, the shape of the prism redirects light at different speeds, which is partly due to the wavelength, and partly due to the direction the light enters. The redirection is mainly caused by the slowing down of the light wave. The red light is least affected, and the violet light is most effected, causing the colours to separate.

Answer 5

Since white light is a combination of all the colors, so when it passes through a prism they are all refracted and due to the different wavelengths they are then split into individual colors (dispersed)

Answer 6

Photons with different frequencies have different speeds in a medium and therefore different angles of refraction. Purple photons which have the highest frequency (in the visible spectrum) also have the biggest refraction angle, while red has the smallest.

Answer 7

A prism breaks down white light into all colors because light waves of different colors travel at different speeds when passing through the prism. This causes the light waves to bend by unequal amounts, separating the colors based on their wavelength. This phenomenon is known as dispersion.

Answer 8

Light bends in glass dependent on its thickness. Violet comes from the thin part and red from the thick part of a prism.