8.1 In the diagram below, a ray of light moves from water into air, with an angle of incidence of 49° - NSC Technical Sciences - Question 8 - 2021 - Paper 2

The diagram should depict the incident ray at an angle of 65° entering the air from the water. Both incident and reflected rays should be shown, with the incident angle labeled as 65° and the reflected angle also labeled as 65°.

This phenomenon is called total internal reflection.

Dispersion is the process in which white light separates into its component colors when passing through a medium, such as a prism, due to different wavelengths of light being refracted by different amounts.

The ray diagram should depict white light entering a triangular prism, bending at both interfaces. The red light is refracted the least, while violet light is refracted the most.

There are five other colors in the spectrum of white light: orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo.

Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another of different densities, which causes a change in its speed.

White light spreads out into different colors when passing through a prism due to refraction. Each color has a different wavelength, and according to the principles of refraction, shorter wavelengths (like violet) are refracted more than longer wavelengths (like red). This variance in bending causes the light to spread into a spectrum of colors.