3/10/2017 DispersionofLightbyPrisms

DispersionofLightbyPrisms
DispersionofLightbyPrisms
RainbowFormation
Mirages

IntheLightandColorunitofThePhysicsClassroomTutorial,thevisiblelightspectrumwasintroduced
anddiscussed.Visiblelight,alsoknownaswhitelight,consistsofacollectionofcomponentcolors.
Thesecolorsareoftenobservedaslightpassesthroughatriangularprism.Uponpassagethrough
theprism,thewhitelightisseparatedintoitscomponentcolorsred,orange,yellow,green,blueand
violet.Theseparationofvisiblelightintoitsdifferentcolorsisknownasdispersion.Itwasmentioned
intheLightandColorunitthateachcolorischaracteristicofadistinctwavefrequencyanddifferent
frequenciesoflightwaveswillbendvaryingamountsuponpassagethroughaprism.Inthisunit,wewill
investigatethedispersionoflightinmoredetail,ponderingthereasonswhydifferentfrequencies
oflightbendorrefractdifferentamountswhenpassingthroughtheprism.
Earlierinthisunit,theconceptofopticaldensitywasintroduced.Differentmaterialsaredistinguished
fromeachotherbytheirdifferentopticaldensities.Theopticaldensityissimplyameasureofthe
tendencyofamaterialtoslowdownlightasittravelsthroughit.Asmentionedearlier,alightwave
travelingthroughatransparentmaterialinteractswiththeatomsofthatmaterial.Whenalightwave
impingesuponanatomofthematerial,itisabsorbedbythatatom.Theabsorbedenergycausesthe
electronsintheatomtovibrate.Ifthefrequencyofthelightwavedoesnotmatchtheresonance
frequencyofthevibratingelectrons,thenthelightwillbereemittedbytheatomatthesamefrequency
atwhichitimpingeduponit.Thelightwavethentravelsthroughtheinteratomicvacuumtowardsthe
nextatomofthematerial.Onceitimpingesuponthenextatom,theprocessofabsorptionandre
emissionisrepeated.

Theopticaldensityofamaterialistheresultofthetendencyoftheatomsofamaterialtomaintainthe
absorbedenergyofthelightwaveintheformofvibratingelectronsbeforereemittingitasanew
electromagneticdisturbance.Thus,whilealightwavetravelsthroughavacuumataspeedofc(3.00x
108m/s),ittravelsthroughatransparentmaterialatspeedslessthanc.Theindexofrefraction
value(n)providesaquantitativeexpressionoftheopticaldensityofagivenmedium.Materialswith
higherindexofrefractionvalueshaveatendencyto holdonto
theabsorbedlightenergyforgreater
lengthsoftimebeforereemittingittotheinteratomicvoid.Themorecloselythatthefrequencyof
thelightwavematchestheresonantfrequencyoftheelectronsoftheatomsofamaterial,thegreater
theopticaldensityandthegreatertheindexofrefraction.Alightwavewouldbesloweddowntoa
greaterextentwhenpassingthroughsuchamaterial
Whatwasnotmentionedearlierinthisunitisthattheindexofrefractionvaluesaredependentupon
thefrequencyoflight.Forvisiblelight,thenvaluedoesnotshowalargevariationwithfrequency,but
nonethelessitshowsavariation.Forinstanceforsometypesofglass,thenvalueforfrequenciesof
violetlightis1.53andthenvalueforfrequenciesofredlightis1.51.Theabsorptionandreemission
processcausesthehigherfrequency(lowerwavelength)violetlighttotravelslowerthroughcrownglass
thanthelowerfrequency(higherwavelength)redlight.Itisthisdifferenceinnvalueforthevarying
frequencies(andwavelengths)thatcausesthedispersionoflightbya
triangularprism.Violetlight,beingsloweddowntoagreaterextentbytheabsorption
andreemissionprocess,refractsmorethanredlight.Uponentryofwhitelightatthe
firstboundaryofatriangularprism,therewillbeaslightseparationofthe
whitelightintothecomponentcolorsofthespectrum.Uponexitingthe
triangularprismatthesecondboundary,theseparationbecomesevengreaterandROYGBIVis
observedinitssplendor.
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TheAngleofDeviation
Theamountofoverallrefractioncausedbythepassageofalightraythroughaprismisoftenexpressed
intermsoftheangleofdeviation( ).Theangleofdeviationistheanglemadebetweentheincident
rayoflightenteringthe firstface
oftheprismandtherefractedraythatemergesfromthe second
face oftheprism.Becauseofthedifferentindicesofrefractionforthedifferentwavelengthsof
visiblelight,theangleofdeviationvarieswithwavelength.Colorsofthevisiblelightspectrumthathave
shorterwavelengths(BIV)willdeviatedmorefromtheiroriginalpaththanthecolorswithlonger
wavelengths(ROY).Theemergenceofdifferentcolorsoflightfromatriangularprismatdifferentangles
leadsanobservertoseethecomponentcolorsofvisiblelightseparatedfromeachother.

Ofcoursethediscussionofthedispersionoflightbytriangularprismsbegsthefollowingquestion:Why
doesn'tasquareorrectangularprismcausethedispersionofanarrowbeamofwhitelight?Theshort
answeristhatitdoes.Thelonganswerisprovidedinthefollowingdiscussionandillustratedbythe
diagrambelow.
Supposethataflashlightcouldbecoveredwithblackpaperwithaslitacrossitsoastocreateabeam
ofwhitelight.Andsupposethatthebeamofwhitelightwithitscomponentcolorsunseparatedwere
directedatanangletowardsthesurfaceofarectangularglassprism.Aswouldbeexpected,
thelightwouldrefracttowardsthenormaluponenteringtheglassandawayfromthenormalupon
exitingtheglass.Butsincethevioletlighthasashorterwavelength,itwouldrefractmorethanthe
longerwavelengthredlight.Therefractionoflightattheentrylocationintotherectangular
glassprismwouldcausealittleseparationofthewhitelight.However,uponexitingtheglassprism,
therefractiontakesplaceintheoppositedirection.Thelightrefractsawayfromthenormal,withthe
violetlightbendingabitmorethantheredlight.Unlikethepassagethroughthetriangularprismwith
nonparallelsides,thereisnooverallangleofdeviationforthevariouscolorsofwhitelight.Boththered
andthevioletcomponentsoflightaretravelinginthesamedirectionastheyweretravelingbefore
entryintotheprism.Thereishoweverathinredfringepresentononeendofthebeamandthinviolet
fringepresentontheoppositesideofthebeam.Thisfringeisevidenceofdispersion.Becausethereisa
differentangleofdeviationofthevariouscomponentsofwhitelightaftertransmissionacrossthefirst
boundary,thevioletisseparatedeversoslightlyfromthered.Upontransmissionacrossthesecond
boundary,thedirectionofrefractionisreversedyetbecausethevioletlighthastraveledfurther
downwardwhenpassingthroughtherectangleitistheprimarycolorpresentintheloweredgeofthe
beam.Thesamecanbesaidforredlightontheupperedgeofthebeam.

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Dispersionoflightprovidesevidencefortheexistenceofaspectrumofwavelengthspresentin
visiblelight.Itisalsothebasisforunderstandingtheformationofrainbows.Rainbowformationisthe
nexttopicofdiscussioninLesson4.

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