What did ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle believe about the

What did ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle believe about the

What did ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle believe about the nature of white light before Newton's discoveries?

Chapter 1

The dark room and the split sunbeam

Chapter 2

The brave and painful eye-poking experiment

Chapter 3

Putting the rainbow back together

Chapter 4

The global battle over light and color

Ch 1 · The dark room and the split sunbeam
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diego Isaac Newton's quarantine at Woolsthorpe Manor

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The plague year retreat

diego After Cambridge University closed, the young scientist spent eighteen months at Woolsthorpe Manor researching gravity, calculus, and light.

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Quiz

In which English county is Woolsthorpe Manor, the historic birthplace where Isaac Newton conducted his early experiments on light?

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Quiz

Why was Isaac Newton working on his optics experiments at his childhood home in 1665 instead of at Cambridge University?

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What appears simple and uniform is often a composite of diverse parts.

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The pinhole in the shutter

diego The Woolsthorpe darkroom setup allowed him to test ancient theories about color.

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Quiz

What did ancient Greek philosophers like Aristotle believe about the nature of white light before Newton's discoveries?

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Quiz

What simple modification did Isaac Newton make to his darkened bedroom window to begin his optics experiments?

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Fun Fact

Prism bargain: Newton actually bought his famous glass prisms at a local county fair in Stourbridge, England, in 1664 for just a few shillings.

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Newton's Stretched Rainbow
BETA

diego Aim the light beam to discover how prisms stretch white light into a rainbow.

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Quiz

What surprising shape did the spectrum of light project onto Isaac Newton's wall after passing through the prism?

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Quiz

Why did the elongated shape of the light spectrum puzzle Isaac Newton based on the physics of his era?

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Glossary
prism (noun)
A transparent glass or plastic object that separates white light into a spectrum of colors. In 1666, Isaac Newton used this device in a darkened chamber to disperse sunlight.

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diego The Prism's Trick

Watch the prism's trick turn a wild rainbow right back into pure white light!

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Quiz

Which color of the visible light spectrum bends the most when passing through a glass prism?

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Quiz

What term did Isaac Newton coin to describe the varying degrees to which different colors of light bend when passing through glass?

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Gossip

Which rainbow color is your absolute favorite to look at?

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