why does white light disperse into different colors when it passes through a prism?

Question

how come when 3 different parallel colors pass through the same prism, they exit parallel still?they have different wavelengths so they should exit unparallel the way as white light disperse.

Answer 1

You are correct here.
When 3 different parallel colors pass through the same prism they will exit the prism nonparallel, in exactly the same way that white light passes.
The same principle of refraction is responsible for this phenomenon, in particular every wavelength of light experiences a different amount of refraction as it passes through a prism (the amount of this spread is called dispersion).

Answer 2

White light consists of a range of colors. For every wavelength, there is a different angle of refraction when it enters the prism. While passing through the prism, the colors will follow unparallel paths. But when they reach the surface going back to the original medium (probably the air) each color refracts again. The angle is the same angle, but with a minus sign. In a prism the 2 surfaces are not parallel, so the colors head off at an angle to the original path but the colors are again parallel.

If instead of a prism, they went through a thick piece of glass, then they each return to the original compass heading - just offset to the side a bit.

Answer 3

Consider white light like a recipe. It is composed of "all" the three primary colors all together. The prism breaks the white light down into it's "ingredients" or the three primary colors, and the varying shades in between. If you are only sending in the "primary" colors, then they are already broken down to their lowest form and can't be broken down any further. The prism "breaks down" the white light so if there is nothing entering it that needs to be "broken down" then it will not separate that light into anything else as there is nothing to separate it into. That is why you the "ingredients" of white light pass through undisturbed unless they are already "mixed together" as white light ahead of time.

Answer 4

Flat glass just lets light pass straight through, so it's the same on one side as the other. A prism deflects light. I do not mean in a different direction alone. BUT each time light is reflected or deflected, it loses strength. When the light rays are diminished in length, they are a different colour. The angle of deflection can alter the colour.

Answer 5

White lite is composed of millions of colors, every color (or frequency) in the visible spectrum. The prism bends each frequency by a slightly different amouint resulting in the individual colors coming out at different angles.

Answer 6

Different wavelengths of light retract at diffent angles. See link below for a visual example.


Technically rainbows or spectrums are made up of millions of colors although with the naked eye, we are only able to see seven of these colors.

Answer 7

well, actually white light already contains 7 colors, by passing by the prism, the colors will show!

Answer 8

This is because of the phenomenon of dispersion of light.
Here prism act as a refracting surface by which when light travels it refract at differnt angle due to different density of medium .Therefore.....

Answer 9

Dear friend , we know that white light consist of differnt colours and hence different wave lengths , , a scientist cauchy propased that refractive index of a medim is depend upon wave length hence we know white light has differnt compositions of colur and therefore different refractive index as a result of which rays refract with different angels , if u wana know more u reply me to my mail i give u my own notes , basically i teaches through them

Answer 10

white is not a color. seven colors in a rainbow, none are white.