Science Common Sense

1347 - Why does sunlight disperse into different colors when passing through a prism?

When sunlight passes through a prism, it breaks into different colors because each color has a slightly different speed. This is called "refraction."

Think of the prism like a special kind of glass that bends light. When light hits the prism, the different colors bend at slightly different angles because they move at different speeds. This means that the light gets "sorted" into its different colors - like red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet - which is why we see a rainbow of colors coming out of the prism.