Why do prisms split white light?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Each color bends differently
Light reflects multiple times — Wrong. Internal reflections can enhance effect, but splitting occurs due to dispersion—different wavelengths refract at different angles.
Each color bends differently ✓ — Correct! White light is mixture of all visible wavelengths (colors). Glass refractive index varies slightly with wavelength—dispersion. Short wavelengths (violet/blue) refract more than long wavelengths (red/orange). Prism bends different colors at different angles—separating them into spectrum (ROYGBIV). Same principle creates rainbows (water droplets act as prisms). Newton used prisms to prove white light is composite, not pure!
Prism adds color to light — Wrong. Prism doesn't add color—white light already contains all colors. Prism separates them through dispersion (wavelength-dependent refraction).
More Physics in Daily Life questions
- In a warm office that already reads 26 C, which change can make people feel cooler without lowering the thermostat?
- Why might 26 C feel acceptable in a breezy naturally ventilated summer building but too warm in a sealed winter office?
- On a warm humid day, why can the same 27 C room feel much worse once you start sweating?
- Why can moving air make a 27 C room feel cooler without changing the thermometer?
- Which hidden factor can make a desk beside a cold window feel chilly even when the thermostat across the room still reads 22 C?
- In the same 22 C room, why might someone who just climbed stairs feel warm while someone sitting in a T-shirt feels chilly?