Understanding the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is a fundamental requirement of the basic sciences. This applies to physics & the spectroscopic analysis of stars, chemical reactions & the biology of photosynthesis & vision.

Sir Isaac Newton first demonstrated the dispersion of sunlight into the familiar rainbow component colors of violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red using a triangular/equilateral glass prism. Glass prisms are better suited than acrylic prisms for experiments because of their higher refractive index for shorter wavelength blue light to longer wavelength red light.