Asked by yo pap

A triangular prism with a rainbow coming from it.
What best describes white light as it travels through a prism? Check all that apply.

The light slows down.
The light bends in the prism.
Light reflects off of the surface of the prism.
The speed of light in the prism is 3.0 × 108 m/s.
The white light breaks into its component colors.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Correct choices:
- The light slows down.
- The light bends in the prism.
- The white light breaks into its component colors.

Why:
- Glass has an index of refraction >1, so light travels slower in the prism than in air/vacuum.
- At each glass–air boundary the light refracts (bends) according to Snell’s law.
- Different wavelengths have slightly different refractive indices (dispersion), so white light separates into its component colors.

Not chosen:
- Light reflects off the surface of the prism — some small fraction is Fresnel-reflected at the surfaces, but reflection is not the main process producing the rainbow.
- The speed of light in the prism is 3.0 × 10^8 m/s — that is the speed in vacuum; in the prism the speed is lower.