Why does light through prism shows rainbow colors?
Refraction occurs at the interface between two media. The angle of refraction is given by Snell’s law: “The ratio of the sines of the angle of incidence and refraction is equal to the ratio of the refractive indices of the respective media” Or: sin(theta1) / sin(theta2) = n1 / n2 where theta1 and theta2 are the angles of incidence and refraction respectively, n1 is the refractive index of the first medium and n2 is the refractive index of the second medium. Now, the refractive index of a medium (n) is given by: n = sqrt(epsilonr mur) where sqrt means the square root, epsilonr and mur are the relative permittivity and permeability of the medium respectively. The relative permittivity of a medium is a measure of the medium’s electrical response. Similarly, the relative permeability is a measure of the medium’s magnetic response. Together, they completely describe how a medium responds to electromagnetic radiation (light). So why does light through a prism show rainbow colours? Well, epsi
