Around 1665, Sir Isaac Newton, a great English Mathematician and Scientist, had proposed the theory that white light, which is the light that we see around us in our houses, consists of 7 different colors. The colors were the rainbow colors, Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red.
Newton's discoveries revolutionized our understanding of the most common aspects of nature such as light. Prisms were seen as trivial toys used for fun in laboratories until Newton was encountered by them. The man Newton conducted a series of experiments with sunlight and prisms after getting a prism at a fair in 1664. And just one year later, the guy was ready with his laws that was going to change the way the world was working. White light has seven colors.
Newton made the astonishing discovery that clear white light was composed of seven visible colors. The Electromagnetic spectrum has a wavelength which is the visible spectrum, which is the only wavelength that we can see from our eyes and is visible to us. The Spectrum consists of 7 colors of the rainbow and this was scientifically established by Isaac Newton.
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Now, this discovery by Newton opened new paths in optics, physics, chemistry, and the study of the colors in nature. Okay, so we have talked enough about Newton and his theory. We still have to talk about how he proved his theory. Let us see how he actually proved it.
PROOF
One bright sunny day, Newton darkened his room and made a hole in his window shutter, allowing just one beam of sunlight to enter the room. He then took a glass prism and placed it in the sun beam. And as you must've guessed it, the result was a spectacular multi-colored band of light just like a rainbow!
Newton believed that all the colors he saw were in the sunlight shining into his room. He thought he then should be able to combine the colors of the spectrum and make the light white again. He wanted to prove it. So, to test this out, Newton placed another prism but this time, upside down in front of the first prism that was refracting the light into 7 rainbow colors already! And he was right! The band of colors combined again into white sunlight!
And thus, with this experiment, Newton was the first to prove that white light consists of seven rainbow colors which makes up the visible spectrum in the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes can see.
Newton was famously slow in publishing his researches. His New Theory Of Light And Colors appeared in the Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society only in 1672. The publication resulted in a dispute/fight with Robert Hooke, the man who discovered cells and was a dominant figure in the Royal Society.
Anyways and anyhow, Newton's experiments with white light had many practical applications that obviously benefited the common man.
Did you know?
When light rays pass between substances with different densities like air and water, they change direction. This is called refraction.
So, this is how Newton proved that white light consists of seven rainbow colors. It was a genius idea.
And as always, Thanks for reading.
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