Refraction Through a Prism and Dispersion

• Refraction:

• Light bends when it passes from one medium to another.
• The amount of bending depends on the refractive index of the media.

• Prism:

• A transparent object with two non-parallel faces inclined at an angle.
• Light rays passing through a prism get refracted twice, once when entering the prism and once when exiting.

• Refractive Index:
  • The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to its speed in a medium.

• The higher the refractive index, the more the light is bent.

• Angle of Refraction:

• The angle between the incident ray and the refracted ray.
• The angle of refraction is determined by the refractive indices of the media and the angle of incidence.

• Angle of Deviation:

• The angle between the incident ray and the emergent ray.

• Minimum Deviation:

• The smallest angle of deviation for a ray passing through a prism occurs at a specific angle of incidence.

• Dispersion:

• The spreading out of light into its component colors.
• The refractive index of a medium depends on the wavelength of light.
• As a result, different wavelengths of light bend by different amounts when passing through a prism, causing the light to spread out into a spectrum.

• Refractive Index and Wavelength:

• The refractive index of a medium is dependent on the wavelength of light.
• Shorter wavelengths (blue light) bend more than longer wavelengths (red light).

• Prismatic Spectrum:

• The spectrum of colors formed when light passes through a prism, which includes the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.