Piecing these statements together we have a tidy explanation for the phenomenon

Question

Piecing these statements together we have a tidy explanation for the phenomenon of a rainbow. At each boundary some colors are refracted more than others which results in white light being spread out into its constituent spectrum. This spreading is called dispersion. The second boundary of the prim - plastic to air - is at such an angle as to increase this dispersion. The difference between the Index of Refraction for the lowest frequency and the highest frequency determines how wide of a rainbow you can see. A material with a larger difference in indexes will have a larger maximum width. Figure 2.1 Frequency dependent index of refraction for glass, quartz, and diamond. A beam of white light travelling in air is incident on a glass block at an angle of 17 degrees. Use Snell's Law to compute the refractive angle for purple, green and orange light. Diamonds have indexes of refraction in the range of 2.4. Why would this lead to more visible rainbows in jewelry?

Explanation / Answer

2,5 )

we have snells law,

1* sin(17 ) = n2 * sin( theta )

now, for purple,

n2 = 1.530

so, theta = 11.01 degree

for green,

n2 = 1.520

so, theta = 11.0899 degree

for orange ,

n2 = 1.512

so, theta = 11.1493 degree

2.6 ) higher refractive index will lead to the Phenomenon of total internal reflection and hence there will be a no. of rainbows .

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