Science · 6 pages · 12 min
How a prism sorts white light
Glass bends shorter wavelengths more, and a triangular prism makes that split add up.
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From the opening
A prism sorts white light because glass bends shorter wavelengths more than longer ones, and the triangle makes that difference accumulate. White light enters as a mixture, and a fan of colors leaves. The opening covers why violet bends more than red, a second prism puts white back, and one pure color stays one color.
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Inside
- Why violet bends more than red
- A second prism puts white back
- One pure color stays one color
- How this differs from a raindrop
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Dispersion in glass and Newton's prism experiments
- Recombination of the spectrum into white light