<text><span class="style10">ptics (2 of 5)</span><span class="style7"></span><span class="style10">The prism</span><span class="style7">The refractive index of optical glasses is not constant for light of all frequencies. It is greater at the violet end and less at the red end of the spectrum. This means that a beam of light containing a mixture of different frequencies, for example sunlight, will leave a prism with the different frequencies bent by different amounts.A </span><span class="style26">prism</span><span class="style7"> is a block of glass with a triangular cross-section; it is used to deviate a beam of light by refraction. A beam of white light will be split into its component monochromatic colored lights - from red to violet - which will form the familiar rainbow effect. Any light can be split up in this way; the display of separated wave- lengths is called the </span><span class="style26">spectrum</span><span class="style7"> of the original beam. The effect of prisms on light has been well known for many centuries. Newton used this effect, called </span><span class="style26">dispersion</span><span class="style7">, to produce and study the spectrum of sunlight. Under the right conditions dispersion occurring in spherical raindrops in the atmosphere produces a rainbow.</span><span class="style10">Total internal reflection</span><span class="style7">When light travels from one medium to another less dense medium it is </span><span class="style26">deviated</span><span class="style7"> or turned away from the </span><span class="style26">normal</span><span class="style7"> - perpendicular to the interface at the point of incidence. This means the angle of refraction (</span><span class="style26">r</span><span class="style7">) is greater than the angle of incidence (</span><span class="style26">i</span><span class="style7">). When the angle of refraction is less than 90 deg , some of the incident light will be refracted and some will be reflected. If the angle of incidence in creases, the angle of refraction will in crease more. It is possible to increase the angle of incidence to such a value that eventually the refracted ray disappears and all the light is reflected. This is known as </span><span class="style26">total internal reflection</span><span class="style7">.</span></text>
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<text><span class="style10">. Total internal reflection.</span><span class="style7"> In the lower diagram, the angle of incidence (</span><span class="style26">i</span><span class="style7">) has become so large that the ray is not refracted but is reflected back into medium 1.</span></text>
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<text>ΓÇó THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMYΓÇó QUANTUM THEORY AND RELATIVITYΓÇó WAVE THEORYΓÇó ELECTROMAGNETISMΓÇó ATOMS AND SUBATOMIC PARTICLESΓÇó PHOTOGRAPHY AND FILMΓÇó RADIO, TELEVISION AND VIDEOΓÇó TELECOMMUNICATIONSΓÇó SEEING THE INVISIBLE</text>