Comments on: light?

By: BUDDY

BUDDY — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 22:46:17 +0000

the shape of the prism does effect the direction of the light. in every bend or turn the light will flow thru to those direction. [who] BUDDY

By: dizzy

dizzy — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:52:52 +0000

The shape does affect the general direction of the refracted light.

However, light’s different components (colors) have different indices of refraction so whatever prism you have, there is always a constant angle that light will bend towards to. [who] dizzy

By: Steve W

Steve W — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:50:56 +0000

Yes, there are basically two factors that affect the way light is bent through a prism.
These are:
1. The refractive index of air (assuming your prism is sitting in air), and the refractive index of the prism material (glass, plastic, etc.)
2. The angle at which the light enters the prism (the angle of incidence).

The equation governing this is called Snell’s Law, and it uses trigonometry (some of the other buttons on the calculator) to allow either an angle or an index of refraction to be calculated, if the other 3 pieces of information are known.

If the light is incident on a flat surface, like a prism, it will bend uniformly.
If the light is incident on a curved surface, like a cylinder, the bend angles will differ across the light beam, depending on the angles that the individual light photons strike the glass.

Basically, this is how a lens works. The glass surface is curved just right to get most of the light rays to come together (focus) at some point on the other side. [who] Steve W

By: ra

ra — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:06:46 +0000

Yes, the shape of the prism partially determines the angles that light goes through. [who] ra

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:07:41 +0000

yeah [who] Michael

By: Leo

Leo — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 09:41:36 +0000

i think the different shapes just affect how the light is bended and split into different colors, its just my guess though. [who] Leo