Re: How does a prism work?

The refractive index of the glass is a function of the wavelength of the incident light. This means that the different colours that go into making up white light bend by different amounts, assuming non-normal incidence, (Snell's Law). The same happens at the glass/air boundary and thus the colours are split. The relation between the wavelength and the refractive index for a glass is given by the Cauchy or Sellmeier equations.

frisbieinstein@xxxxxxxxx wrote: 
Here is a very basic question.  How does a prism -- the triangular sort
studied by Isaac Newton -- split a beam of sunlight into colors?


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