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6.3 Making Rainbows

White light is dispersed into the visible color spectrum when passed through a glass prism due to differing refractive indices. The colors of the spectrum are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Rainbows form when sunlight enters water droplets and is refracted and reflected inside before exiting and reaching the observer's eyes, requiring sunlight, water droplets in the air, and the sun being behind the observer.

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424 views3 pages

6.3 Making Rainbows

White light is dispersed into the visible color spectrum when passed through a glass prism due to differing refractive indices. The colors of the spectrum are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Rainbows form when sunlight enters water droplets and is refracted and reflected inside before exiting and reaching the observer's eyes, requiring sunlight, water droplets in the air, and the sun being behind the observer.

Uploaded by

simaha648
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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6.3 Making rainbows Notes

Newton found by his experiment that if a beam of white light is passed through a glass prism, the
white light splits to form a band of seven colours on a white screen.

Dispersion of light
The splitting up of white light into seven colours on passing through a transparent medium like a
glass prism is called dispersion of light.

The Spectrum
The range of colors that can be seen in white light is called a spectrum. The order of colors in the
spectrum is given below:
Red orange yellow green blue indigo violet
You can remember the order of the colors using a made –up person’s name: ‘ROY G BIV’
Cause of dispersion
The dispersion of white light occurs because colours of white light travel at different speeds
through the glass prism with different angles due to refraction of white light.

Example: Violet light is refracted through the largest angle and Red light is refracted through
the smallest angle
Rainbows:
Rainbows are formed when light from the sun is scattered by water droplets (e.g. raindrops or
fog) through a process called refraction.
Refraction occurs when the light from the sun changes direction when passing through a
medium denser than air, such as a raindrop.
Once the refracted light enters the raindrop, it is reflected off the back and then refracted again as
it exits and travels to our eyes.
Conditions for rainbow formation:
1. The sun must be shining, to provide bright light
2. There must be rain or small drops of water in the air to cause dispersion of light
3. The sun must be behind the observer, because the water drops reflect the light inside
them

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