CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL

SRINIVASPURI NEW DELHI

Subject PHYSICS
Topic Chapter 11 The Human Eye the Colourful World
Sub-topic 1. Refraction of Light through a Prism
2. Dispersion of White Light by a Glass Prism
3. Practical - Tracing the path of the rays of light through a glass prism.
Read Pages 168 – 171 of text book
Video links Refraction of Light through a Prism and Dispersion
https://youtu.be/cQhO88edWxU
https://youtu.be/Wx0GIDvyMIY
Recombination of White Light
https://youtu.be/zx07PShjJmk
How are rainbows formed
https://youtu.be/lUjvmgDaKCs
Tracing the path of the rays of light through a glass prism.
http://amrita.olabs.edu.in/?sub=1&brch=6&sim=246&cnt=1

Notes (Copy REFRACTION OF LIGHT THROUGH A PRISM

in your 1. Prism has 2 triangular bases and 3 rectangular surfaces inclined to each other.
register) 2. The angle between 2 lateral surfaces is called angle of prism.
3. When a ray light passes through a prism, it bends towards its base. The angle
between incident ray and emergent ray is known as angle of deviation.
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4. When a ray of light enters in a glass prism, it emerges out as band of seven colours.
This splitting of light into seven colours is known as dispersion and the band of
seven colours is known as spectrum.

5. Cause: all colours travel at same speed in vacuum but in any transparent medium
like glass or water, the rays of different colours travel with different speed. Due to
difference in their speeds, the rays of different colours bend through different
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angles with respect to incident ray as they pass through the prism. The rays of each
colour emerge out along the different path and thus become distinct.
Note:
1. In any transparent medium, the red travels the fastest and violet travels the slowest
in all the seven colours. Therefore, the red deviates the least and violet deviates the
most.
2. Any light that gives spectrum similar to sunlight is referred as white light.
3. The frequency of blue colour is greater than that of the red colour.

RECOMBINATION OF WHITE LIGHT

RAINBOW FORMATION

1. A rainbow is a natural spectrum appearing in the sky, it always forms in the

direction opposite to the sun.
2. The tiny droplets in the atmosphere after rain shower or near waterfall acts like a
small prism. The water droplets refract and disperse incident light and then reflect
internally and then refract again. When it comes out of the raindrop, due to
dispersion and internal reflection of light, different colours reach the observer’s
eye.
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Rainbow formation by water drop

Assignment Q1. In the visible spectrum the colour having the shortest wavelength is

(a) Green
(b) Red
(c) Violet
(d) Blue
Q2. A prism ABC (with BC as base) is placed in different orientations. A narrow beam of
white light is incident on the prism as shown in figure. In which of the following cases, after
dispersion, the sixth colour from the top corresponds to the colour of the sun?

Q3. Light rays are deviated by a prism

The deviation angle d is measured for light rays of different frequency, including blue light
and red light. Which graph is correct?
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Q4. Rainbow is caused due to

(a) Reflection of sun light air
(b) Dispersion of sun light from water drops
(c) Refraction of sun light from water drops
(d) Diffraction of sun rays from water drops
Q5. Which amongst the given radiation is preferred for taking photographs in fog?
(a) Ordinary visible light
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(b) Infrared
(c) Microwave
(d) X-rays
Q6. A glass slab is placed over a page on which the word VIBGYOR is printed with each
letter in corresponding colour. Then, which of the following is correct?
(a) The images of all the letters will be in the same place as that on paper
(b) Letter V is raised more
(c) Letter R is raised more
(d) None of the above
Q7. The splitting of white light into several colours on passing through a glass prism is due
to
(a) refraction
(b) reflection
(c) interference
(d) diffraction
Q8. On entering a glass prism, sun rays are
(a) Deviated but not dispersed
(b) Deviated and dispersed
(c) Dispersed but not deviated
(d) Neither deviated nor dispersed.
Q9. A piece of cloth looks red in sun light. It is held in the blue portion of a solar spectrum
it will appear
(a) red
(b) black
(c) blue
(d) white
Q10. Assertion : The light of violet colour deviates the most and the light of red colour
the least, while passing through a prism.
Reason : For a prism material, refractive index is highest for red light and lowest for
the violet light.
(a) Both assertion (A) and reason (R) are true and reason (R) is the correct explanation of
assertion(A).
(b) Both assertion (A) and reason (R) are true but reason (R) is not the correct explanation
of assertion (A).
(c) Assertion (A) is true but reason (R) is false.
(d) Assertion (A) is false but reason (R) is true.
(e) Both Assertion and Reason are false.
Q11. Assertion : A white light on passing through prism splits into its component colours
as such that the red light emerges nearest to the base of the prism.
Reason : Wavelength of red light is more than other component colours and hence, red
light deviates least.
Q12. Assertion : Secondary rainbow is fainter than primary rainbow.
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Reason : Secondary rainbow formation is three step process and hence, the intensity of
light is reduced at the second reflection inside the rain drop.