Interactive Prism Dispersion

Prisms have always been used to introduce the concepts behind Optics. They demonstrate one of the most important aspects of the field, namely dispersion. We felt that this idea was one that needed to be properly communicated to the general public in a fun, interactive way. Our project allows the user to simulate interactions of light and prisms. The user can move the light source, play around with different materials and different colours. For the more scientifically inclined, we have included dispersion plots as well and a projection of the output spectrum to truly visualize the dispersion effect. We have two programs. One is called 'lightsourcemove.py'. This allows the user to rotate and move the light source around, and see how different angles will change the reflection and refraction. The user can also adjust the "spray" of the light source, and so allows the user to emit a rainbow from the light source.The 'main.py' program allows the user to see the dispersion and projection of the resulting light onto the walls. The user may change the number and position of prisms in 'prism_array' in the program. Prisms are identified by their corners and their material, which may be 'GA-AS', 'SI' or 'SILICA'.

Built With

• python