The students in a class took a thick sheet of cardboard and made a small hole in its centre. Sunlight was…
The students in a class took a thick sheet of cardboard and made a small hole in its centre. Sunlight was allowed to fall on this small hole and they obtained a narrow beam of white light. A glass prism was taken and this white light was allowed to fall on one of its faces. The prism was turned slowly until the light that comes out of the opposite face of the prism appeared on the nearby screen. They studied this beautiful band of light and concluded that it is a spectrum of white light.
(i) Give any one more instance in which this type of spectrum is observed.
(ii) What happens to white light in the above case?
(iii) (A) List two conditions necessary to observe a rainbow.
Solution
(i) A rainbow (or any other)
(ii) Dispersion of white light takes place.
(iii) (A)
The presence of water droplets in the atmosphere.
The sun must be at the back of the observer.