Window Prisms: Magic?
My bedroom window features a collection of suncatchers. According to RainbowSymphony.com, “rainbow suncatchers use holographic prisms and diffraction,” to transform the sunlight passing through into a vivid spectrum of visible light. The color of sunlight, as defined by physics, is white. Our true perception of the white light is what we see when, as in the case of sunlight, the entire spectrum of visible light is emitted more or less homogeneously. Diffraction is the process by which a beam of light, or any system of waves, is spread out as a result of passing through narrow pathways that interfere with, and separate each individual wave. Every color on the visible light spectrum has its own wavelength– red having the longest and purple the shortest. This difference in wavelength means that during diffraction, each color is bent at a different angle; each colorexits the aperture at a slightly different angle and allows one to perceive each of the seven colors individually. The prisms in the suncatchers capture the passing light and, “different colors of light travel at different speeds inside the glass. Because the colors of light travel at different speeds, they get bent by different amounts and come out all spread out instead of mixed up” (The Wonders of Physics). Instead of being all mixed together and appearing as one, consistent stream of light from the sun, diffraction occurs within the prisms that break the light up and we see each individual part of the rainbow independently.
Julia Friday
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Essay Title: Window Prisms: Magic?
Category: Contrived
Photo Number: 6200
School: Dedham High School
Teacher Name: Amanda Harnden
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