how do prisms bend light? specifically how do thick prisms bend light compared to thin prisms.
Hey Marie.....light travels in wavelegnths much like the waves of an ocean travelling to the shore. When something interrupts or alters the course of these wavelegnths (such as light travelling through a prism) then these wavelengths (ripples) must do a detour and this is called refraction (not to be confused with reflection). It is the same reason that we sometimes see a rainbow in different mediums. Each waverlegnth of light actually has a corresponding color to it.....hence the rainbow. A Frenchman named Fresnel figured out some fancy mathematical equations to explain all of this and when you see an old lighthouse up close you will see the fresnel lens that it supports. It uses this theory so as to take a small light source indide if it (such as an old whale oil lamp) and then magnify and refract the light into a seemingly brighter appearance. Light can bend (refract) and when it does this then corresponding colors appear due to a change in wavelegnth (it makes a detour) and the intensity of the light may appear greater or smaller.
