Apparent Depth and Dispersion of white light
Thursday, February 11, 2010 @ 3:30 AM
What does apparent depth mean? It is what appears to your eyes, which may not be the actual depth.
To an observer standing at the side of a swimming pool, objects under the water appear to be nearer the surface than they really are. A similar effect can be seen when "looking through" glass or any other transparent substance.
A fish appears to be nearer the surface than it really is:
A straight stick appearing bended:
Both these effects are caused by refraction of light at the surface of the water.
Dispersion of white light
White light is actually made up of the rainbow colours: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. When white light passes through a prism, it splits into those colours because they bend at different angles when they leave the prism.
