The Emergence of Light: Newton and Descartes

Two of the many scientists who studied the behavior of light were Rene Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton.
Separately, they conducted experiments using a prism to explain the emergence of the colors of light
upon passing it.

Rene Descartes’s View on the Emergence of Colors of Light

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Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who first studied and explained
the concept of refraction. In one of his experiments, he produced a rainbow by using a water-filled glass
sphere and sunlight. He explained that refraction of light caused the formation of rainbows. He then
studied the refraction and emergence of colors of light in a prism. He observed that the different colors
of light refracted at varying degrees. He noted that the red light refracted more than the blue light.

Descartes explained the emergence of the colors of light using the concept of the plenum, the invisible
substance that permeated the universe. He thought that light was a disturbance that traveled through
the plenum. He pictured the particles of plenum as tiny balls which were in contact, and rotating with
the same speed. He explained that when these particles passed through the prism and encountered a
slit on the edge, their rotational speed would change. This change resulted in the emergence of a color.
Other parts of the slit produced other colors of light.

Plenum

Sir Isaac Newton’s View on the Emergence of Colors of Light

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Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician who was famous because of his
contributions in describing motion and the nature of light. His studies included the emergence of colors
as light passed through a prism. In his experiment, he saw that the red light refracted the least while the
violet light refracted the most. According to Newton, this difference in refraction occurred due to the
differences in the mass of the colors of light.

Newton believed that particles of matter exert equal force to the particles of light regardless of its color.
He then explained that when light particles passed through an interface of matter, the colors of light
which have different mass and inertia will be deflected at varying degrees. He noted that particles with
greater mass and inertia are deflected less when acted upon by the same force. For instance, particles of
red light has more mass than those of violet light. Therefore, red light was deflected less than the violet
light.