Interactive Prism Lab

Drag the sliders to see how the angle of deviation responds to changes in incidence, prism geometry, material and colour of light.

Controls

Angle of Incidence40°

Angle of Prism60°

Refractive Index (base)1.52

Colour of light

Link μ to wavelength (dispersion)

Effective μ = 1.5200

Angle of incidence (i)40.0°

Angle of prism (A)60.0°

Refractive index (μ)1.5200

Wavelength (λ)580 nm

Refraction at face 1 (r₁)25.02°

Refraction at face 2 (r₂)34.98°

Angle of emergence (e)60.63°

Angle of deviation (δ)40.63°

Minimum δ for this prism38.93° @ i = 49.5°