Modeling physical reality
- Author:
- Rafael Losada Liste
- Topic:
- Constructions, Geometry, Prism
This activity belongs to the GeoGebra book Attractive projects.
3D Project: model the dispersion of light in a prism.
Note: in the lower courses this will be adapted to the prism section (2D project).
It is proposed to model the famous experiment of Newton on the dispersion of light: when a beam of white light from the sun passes through a prism of glass, the different monochromatic radiations are so more deflected by refraction the smaller their wavelength, which causes their decomposition in the colors of the rainbow.
This model includes the conversion of the wavelength of the (visible) light to RGB color code used by GeoGebra. Notice that there are RGB colors, such as pink or brown, that are not present in the rainbow because they are not pure waves (but combinations of others). It also includes a function (ref) that gives us the refractive index (air-crystal) of the wavelength λ.
The image on the left gives us an increased view of the spectrum, where the Fraunhofer lines are visible (dark bands caused by the absorption of some wavelengths by chemical elements of the outer layers of the Sun and the particules present in the air, which allows us to find out the composition of the Sun and other stars).
Note: Later, in the Robots section, you can see another example of physical reality modeling (elliptical orbits).
Author of the construction of GeoGebra: Rafael Losada