Figure: A schematic diagram of a prism dispersing light using refraction

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Figure: A schematic diagram of a prism dispersing light using refraction

Caption: A schematic diagram illustrating the refraction of monochromatic light rays by a prism of made from 5 of the 6 conventional spectral color terms (orange is omitted). The black line segments are normals (i.e., the perpendiculars) to the glass medium interface.

Note, the schematic diagram shows the light rays being dispersed. It does NOT show light rays that are somehow reflected toward the observer. See Optics file: Figure: An explication of how a prism disperses light using refraction: Image 2 for a real photograph of what the observer sees for dispersion by a prism when the system is arranged to see a lot of the features.

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Image Credit/Permission: © User:RJHall, 2005 / Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0.
Image link: Wikimedia Commons: File:Refraction varies by frequency.gif.
Local file: local link: refraction_prism_2.html.
File: Optics file: refraction_prism_2.html.