A beam of white light passes through a glass prism and a spectrum is observed. The ________ light bends the least. 

The correct answer is red.

Key Points

• Red light bends the least when passing through a prism because it has the longest wavelength among the visible spectrum.
• The amount of bending or refraction of light depends on the wavelength; longer wavelengths (red) refract less compared to shorter wavelengths (violet).
• When white light enters a prism, it splits into its constituent colors due to different degrees of bending for different wavelengths.
• This phenomenon of splitting of light into its spectrum of colors is called dispersion.
• The sequence of colors observed in the spectrum is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (ROYGBIV), with red bending the least and violet bending the most.

Additional Information

• Prism
  • A prism is a transparent optical element with flat, polished surfaces that refract light.
  • It is typically used to disperse light into its constituent spectral colors.
• Refraction
  • Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another with a different density.
  • This change in direction occurs due to the change in speed of light in different media.
• Wavelength
  • Wavelength is the distance between successive crests of a wave, typically measured in meters.
  • In the context of visible light, different wavelengths correspond to different colors.