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Waves

Question

How does diffracted white light create a spectrum of colours?

3 years ago

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Hobart Hamill


1 Answer

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White light is a mixture of all colours, and each colour has a different wavelenght. So, either by using the diffraction grating formula, or descriptive knowledge of diffraction, the longer wavelength red light is diffracted through a greater angle than the shorter wavelength blue/violet light. So you see spectra.

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