The Thinking Experiment

Rainbow and Prism Refraction Lab

Compare white-light splitting in a regular prism and a raindrop, then explain why the rainbow color order stays fixed.

Controls

Teacher Mode (Auto Lecture)

Teacher mode ready.

Cue: waiting to start.

Student Guide (Always On)

How To Use This

1. Choose a mode: Raindrop or Regular Prism.

2. Click Animate Rays to make paths easier to track.

3. Use your mouse wheel on the canvas to zoom.

4. In prism mode, click-drag on the canvas to rotate the prism.

5. Read the table and the explanation under the canvas.

Base refractive index: shifts how strongly all colors bend.

Dispersion range: controls separation between red and violet.

Beam height: changes where light enters the prism/drop.

Raindrop radius: changes drop size (raindrop mode only).

Mouse wheel on canvas: zoom in/out around the model center.

Mouse drag on canvas: rotates the triangular prism (prism mode only).

Start Teacher Mode: runs an automatic 8-cue lecture sequence.

Pause: pause/resume the auto-advance timer.

Next Cue: jump to the next talking point immediately.

The current cue text tells you exactly what to say and what students should notice.

Raindrop Model

Projector mode: thick, high-contrast rays.

Color λ (nm) n Rainbow angle