Deviation of Light by a Prism

Deviation of light by a prism

Introduction

A prism behaves as a light diffuser because it separates light into constituent colors with the passage of transmitted light. And deviation causes the different colors in the spectrum to spread out, creating a colorful image, then it passes into a viewing medium such as air or water. It also brings about rainbows, which last about 10 minutes on average. The white scattered light becomes too diffuse to create colors through refraction. The phenomenon that affects the movement of the brightness is called scattering of prisms. The most common application of prism is in an artist’s paint box, for example, printer’s crayons. 

The angle of deviation

The angle of deviation is outlined because of the angle between the incident ray and refracted ray. The incident ray is defined as the ray of light that points and strikes towards a surface. And a refracted ray is defined as the change in velocity and direction when an incident ray passes through a medium.

The angle of deviation varies with the wavelength of the light because of the different indices of refraction and for the different wavelengths of light.

colors with a shorter wavelength will deviate more from the path than the colors with a longer wavelength.

Prism and prism colors

Prism

• A prism is used to deviate the rainbow of light emitted from the light source. A prism does not disperse the light evenly. Some colors and some polarization of light are transmitted more than others.

• Dispersing differently, each section can create unique distinct colors and details/illusions based on their frequency and amplitude by viewers depending on where they look at them which section on the nature of light.

• The prism can separate the white light into its components of colors called spectrum. So the colors which come out are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. And all of these colors have different wavelengths, and their deviation is also different.
• A prism is called by its base; therefore, different types of prisms are named after the basis of the shape of their bases. And they are classified on different bases, like on the polygon basis; there are two types of prisms: 

regular prism and irregular prism. And therefore, they have different properties and shapes. Regular prism has a base of a regular pentagon. And the irregular prism has a base of an irregular pentagon.

• The amount of space inside the prism is the volume of the prism. 
• Objects like cylinders, cones and spheres are not considered prisms because they have curved faces, and prisms cannot have curved sides.

Right prism

• A right prism is defined as a prism that has edges and faces perpendicular to the base faces.

• The height of this prism is a lateral edge.

• The side faces of this prism are rectangular

Surface Area and Volume of a Triangular Prism

The surface area of this prism can be formulated as-

      (Perimeter x Length) + (2 x Base Area)

= (S1 + S2 + S3) l + b x h

where, l = length

             b =breadth

             h = height

             s = edge of the prism

• The volume of this prism can be formulated as-

       12 x b x h x l

where, l = length

             b =breadth

             h = height

• Examples of right prisms are rectangular prisms and triangular prisms.

Oblique prism

• Oblique prism is defined as the prism which has edges and faces that are not perpendicular to the base faces.
• The height of this prism is an altitude outside a prism.
• The side faces of this prism are parallelograms.
• The surface area of a triangular prism can be formulated as-

      (Perimeter x Length) + (2 x Base Area)

= (S1 + S2 + S3) l + b x h

• The volume of a triangular prism can be formulated as-

       ½ x b x h x l

where, l = length

             b =breadth

             h = height

• An example of an oblique prism is a parallelepiped, in which the base is a parallelogram.

Most deviated color in prism:

The most deviated color in the prism is violet color. Because it has a shorter wavelength. And the color with a shorter wavelength travels more slowly through a medium. And therefore, violet color bends the most.

Least deviated color in prism:

The least deviated color in the prism is red. Because it has a larger wavelength than the others. And the color with a larger wavelength travels faster through a medium. And therefore, red bends the least.

Types of prism

There are four main types of prism in optics- dispersion prism, deviation or reflection prism, rotation prism, and displacement prism.

• Dispersion prism is an optical prism that has a shape of a geometrical triangular prism and is used for dispersing light. Dispersing the light means dividing the light into its different components of light. For example, when white light enters the dispersion prism, it gets divided into three components: red, green, and blue. These are ideal for spectroscopy or laser tuning.
• Deviation or reflection prism: These prisms are used to reflect light in order to deviate or displace the beam of light. These are basically used to erect the image in binoculars. These are internal reflections. These are made of pure optical glass. 

• Rotation prism: This prism is used to rotate, invert, or revert an image. These are found in microscopes of astronomy.
• Displacement prism:  This prism maintains the direction of the ray path yet adjusts its relation to the normal. The displacement prism displaces the image of the given object to align with the eye deviated axis.   
• There are different types of shapes in prisms: triangular prism, pentagonal prism, rectangular prism, hexagonal prism, cube prism, octagonal prism, cuboid prism, etc.

Conclusion 

Prisms have a flat face but can do something magical, which can be seen. A prism splits white light into seven beautiful colors. The reflection, refraction, and deviation are used in prism and how they are related to each other. We see the uses of prism and its colors—the least deviated color to the most deviated color. And see how many types of prisms there are. And they all have different uses and properties. We have also seen how the right prism is different from the oblique prism. A real-life example of a prism is an ice cube which is common and noticeable—the difference between the dispersion and deviation. So many different faces of prisms call a single ray. Objects with multiple faces(flat) are called prisms and also polyhedrons. But objects with curved faces are not called prisms like cylinders, spheres and cones.