Chapter 12, Problem 14STP

To determine

To explain: the colors that would be seen on the right side of the object in order of decreasing wavelength.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction: the figure below shows a triangular prism. The white light passes through it and scatters into different lights known as visible light spectrum.

  

White light is composed of light of photons with different wavelengths. In the visible spectrum, red light has the longest wavelength, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (ROYGBIV). These colors actually represent the colors in a rainbow.

Conclusion:

Thus, as white light passes through a prism it gets dispersed into several color components of different wavelengths.