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Material Detail

Basic Prism

Basic Prism

This simulation shows the basic principles behind a prism, and demonstrates Snell's Law. Users can see how a prism deflects different wavelengths of light, and how the prism splits while light into the entire visible spectrum of color.
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More about this material

Material Type:
Simulation
Date Added to MERLOT:
October 28, 2002
Date Modified in MERLOT:
September 19, 2022
Author:
 
Submitter:
Kara Chiodo
Primary Audience:
Middle School, High School, College General Ed
Technical Format:
Shockwave
Mobile Compatibility:
Not specified at this time
Language:
English
Cost Involved:
No
Source Code Available:
No
Creative Commons:
No

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Comments

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Beta Keramati
Beta Keramati (Faculty)
3 years ago
Content Quality - The simulation is a clear demonstration of the refraction of light through a prism. The light source can be either a single frequency beam or a white beam of light. The white beam can be used to easily show dispersion. The light source and the prism can be moved and rotated. The index of refraction and the width of the prism can also be adjusted to explore their effect on dispersion or refraction in general. The background grid can be turned on and off and a protractor tool can be used to measure the angles of incidence and refraction. Potential Effectiveness - The simulation can be used to introduce dispersion. The measuring tools allow for a more in depth exploration of the Snell's law, the critical angle and total internal reflection. The parent website, ExploreLearning provides worksheets and lesson plans for the simulation. Ease of Use - The simulation is made in Gismos that runs on PCs, Macs, iPads, Chromebooks, and Android devices. The simulation itself is easy to use, however, one needs to create an account to gain access to a 30 days free trial registration that provides access to a limited number of Gismos simulations on the ExploreLearning website.