Why does white light entering a prism leave a rainbow?
When light hits the prism at an angle θ₀, the exiting angle is given by sinθ = sinθ₀ /𝑛
Different colors have different 𝑛 (in glass)
So each color will exit the prism with a slightly different angle θpic.twitter.com/yIsrbkk76p
-
That’s probably the best particle interpretation. To me it seems cleanest to think in terms of waves here though.
Boundary conditions require wave to be continuous at boundary, and since wave velocity changes upon entering medium, wavelength must change? 
These are all consistent, but I prefer to think about them more fundamentally
-
-
But it doesn’t really make sense to discuss a single bare photon in a material. It reduces system to a vacuum. And, diamond (~2.4) and ash (~1.1) are both just carbon but have greatly different n’s. The index of refraction depends equally on the geometry as it does atom type.
-
Well, I would use the term "fundamental" in terms of "building blocks"
- 3 more replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.