Book 7, Question 124
Why Does a Prism Split White Light?
Shine a flashlight through a prism, and a rainbow pops out of the other side! White light is secretly a team of colors. Each color bends a different amount in glass, and that is why a prism splits white light!
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 7
More fun facts
- Isaac Newton passed a beam of sunlight through a small hole in a covered window and then through a prism.
- A prism separates light because each color has a different wavelength.
- When scientists spread out sunlight in detail, they find thin dark lines. These lines are fingerprints of the elements in the Sun.
- Telescopes like Hubble use special tools called spectrographs to split starlight into colors.
- Some spectrographs use a metal grating with tiny grooves instead of a prism to split light.
Sources: NASA Science, NASA Science
Questions kids ask
What can scientists learn by splitting starlight?
Dark lines in the colors show which elements are in the star.
Did Newton use a prism?
Yes. He passed sunlight through a prism and called the band of colors a spectrum.