Verified Solution Science The Human Eye and the Colourful World

If a beam of white light is passed through a glass slab, parallel to its base, it emerges as white light. However, if it passes through a glass prism, it disperses into its constituent colours. Explain this difference.

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Answer

In a glass slab, the two refracting surfaces are parallel. Although dispersion occurs at the first surface, the colours recombine due to the parallel nature of the surfaces, resulting in white light emerging parallel to the incident beam, only laterally displaced. In a prism, the refracting surfaces are inclined to each other, so the deviation and dispersion at the first surface are not cancelled out by the second surface. Instead, the deviation is additive, leading to distinct separation of colours and the formation of a spectrum.

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