NATS 1870 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Slide Projector, Action Potential, Chromosome

• School: York University
• Department: Natural Science
• Course: NATS 1870
• Professor: Robin Kingsburgh

Document Summary

Sketch the path of white light as it enters and exits a prism. Describe newton"s experimentum crucis and how it fundamentally changed our understanding of light: Color was not a property of objects rather a property of light. First experiment: sending white light through main prism, the white light breaks into component colors, placed the second prism in the light beam which combined all the colors back into white. Conclusion: white was a composite of the colors: roygbiv- spectrum. Experimentum crucis: sending light through prism > breaks up into spectrum> one single color is isolated (red) > red light stays red- cannot be modified further. Newton concluded that the redness (and all colors) are fundamental to light itself. Each color bent differently through the prism and each color remained itself after it was isolated and could never be turned into another color.