A prism produces a spectrum when white light passes through it. If the refractive index for red light is 1.50 and for violet light is 1.54, what does this suggest about the behavior of the different colors in the prism?
Violet light bends more than red light
A prism splits white light because its refractive index is different for different colours (dispersion). The larger the refractive index, the more the light slows down in the glass and the more it is deviated.
Here violet has n = 1.54 and red has n = 1.50. Since 1.54 > 1.50, violet light is refracted (bent) more than red light; that is why violet appears at the bottom of the spectrum and red at the top.
The colours cannot bend equally, because their refractive indices differ, and neither passes undeviated, since both indices are greater than 1. Red, having the smaller refractive index, bends the least.
Hence, the answer is: Violet light bends more than red light.
Similar Questions
An object is placed at a distance of 10 cm from a convex lens. The lens produces a real and magnified image with a magnification \(-3\). What is the position of the image?
A student incorrectly calculates a positive object distance while using the lens formula for a real object. Based on the sign convention, what is the conceptual error in this calculation?
An eye lens forms a real, inverted image 2 cm behind the retina for a distant object. What error in the eye's structure could cause this situation?
A beam of white light passes through a glass prism and forms a spectrum on a screen. If you place a second identical prism after the first, inverted with respect to it, what will happen to the spectrum?
If c is the speed of light in air and v is the speed of light in a medium, how is the refractive index nm of that medium defined?
An object is placed 10 cm from a diverging lens with a focal length of 15 cm. What is the position of the image formed?
A student is asked to design an experiment using a concave mirror to locate its principal focus. She position a parallel beam of light to strike the mirror and observe the reflected rays meeting at a point. How should this point be described in the context of the mirror’s features?
In the context of spherical mirrors, what is the relationship between the principal axis and the normal at the pole?
Which property of convex mirrors makes them suitable for use in shopping malls for security purposes?
A rainbow is observed after a rain shower when sunlight passes through water droplets in the air. Which process primarily causes the separation of colors seen in a rainbow?
Important Questions from Optics
Who was the first one to use a glass prism to obtain the spectrum of sunlight?
Twinkling of stars is due to:
In which a convex mirror is used?
A. Rear View mirrors in vehicles
B. Glass windows
C. Makeup Mirror
D. Kaleidoscope
An object is placed 10 cm in front of a lens. The image formed is real, inverted and of same size as the object. What is the focal length and nature of the lens?
The power of a lens is -2.5 D. The type of lens and its focal length are respectively:
