PROP. I. Theor. I.

Opticks by Isaac Newton, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. PROP. I. Theor. I.

PROP. I. Theor. I.

The Phænomena of Colours in refracted or reflected Light are not caused by new Modifications of the Light variously impress'd, according to the various Terminations of the Light and Shadow.

The Proof by Experiments.

Exper. 1. For if the Sun shine into a very dark Chamber through an oblong hole F, [in Fig. 1.] whose breadth is the sixth or eighth part of an Inch, or something less; and his beam FH do afterwards pass first through a very large Prism ABC, distant about 20 Feet from the hole, and parallel to it, and then (with its white part) through an oblong hole H, whose breadth is about the fortieth or sixtieth part of an Inch, and which is made in a black opake Body GI, and placed at the distance of two or three Feet from the Prism, in a parallel Situation both to the Prism and to the former hole, and if this white Light thus transmitted through the hole H, fall afterwards upon a white Paper pt, placed after that hole H, at the distance of three or four Feet from it, and there paint the usual Colours of the Prism, suppose red at t, yellow at s, green at r, blue at q, and violet at p; you may with an Iron Wire, or any such like slender opake Body, whose breadth is about the tenth part of an Inch, by intercepting the Rays at k, l, m, n or o, take away any one of the Colours at t, s, r, q or p, whilst the other Colours remain upon the Paper as before; or with an Obstacle something bigger you may take away any two, or three, or four Colours together, the rest remaining: So that any one of the Colours as well as violet may become outmost in the Confine of the Shadow towards p, and any one of them as well as red may become outmost in the Confine of the Shadow towards t, and any one of them may also border upon the Shadow made within the Colours by the Obstacle R intercepting some intermediate part of the Light; and, lastly, any one of them by being left alone, may border upon the Shadow on either hand. All the Colours have themselves indifferently to any Confines of Shadow, and therefore the differences of these Colours from one another, do not arise from the different Confines of Shadow, whereby Light is variously modified, as has hitherto been the Opinion of Philosophers. In trying these things 'tis to be observed, that by how much the holes F and H are narrower, and the Intervals between them and the Prism greater, and the Chamber darker, by so much the better doth the Experiment succeed; provided the Light be not so far diminished, but that the Colours at pt be sufficiently visible. To procure a Prism of solid Glass large enough for this Experiment will be difficult, and therefore a prismatick Vessel must be made of polish'd Glass Plates cemented together, and filled with salt Water or clear Oil.

Fig. 1.

Exper. 2. The Sun's Light let into a dark Chamber through the round hole F, [in Fig. 2.] half an Inch wide, passed first through the Prism ABC placed at the hole, and then through a Lens PT something more than four Inches broad, and about eight Feet distant from the Prism, and thence converged to O the Focus of the Lens distant from it about three Feet, and there fell upon a white Paper DE. If that Paper was perpendicular to that Light incident upon it, as 'tis represented in the posture DE, all the Colours upon it at O appeared white. But if the Paper being turned about an Axis parallel to the Prism, became very much inclined to the Light, as 'tis represented in the Positions de and δε; the same Light in the one case appeared yellow and red, in the other blue. Here one and the same part of the Light in one and the same place, according to the various Inclinations of the Paper, appeared in one case white, in another yellow or red, in a third blue, whilst the Confine of Light and shadow, and the Refractions of the Prism in all these cases remained the same.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Exper. 3. Such another Experiment may be more easily tried as follows. Let a broad beam of the Sun's Light coming into a dark Chamber through a hole in the Window-shut be refracted by a large Prism ABC, [in Fig. 3.] whose refracting Angle C is more than 60 Degrees, and so soon as it comes out of the Prism, let it fall upon the white Paper DE glewed upon a stiff Plane; and this Light, when the Paper is perpendicular to it, as 'tis represented in DE, will appear perfectly white upon the Paper; but when the Paper is very much inclin'd to it in such a manner as to keep always parallel to the Axis of the Prism, the whiteness of the whole Light upon the Paper will according to the inclination of the Paper this way or that way, change either into yellow and red, as in the posture de, or into blue and violet, as in the posture δε. And if the Light before it fall upon the Paper be twice refracted the same way by two parallel Prisms, these Colours will become the more conspicuous. Here all the middle parts of the broad beam of white Light which fell upon the Paper, did without any Confine of Shadow to modify it, become colour'd all over with one uniform Colour, the Colour being always the same in the middle of the Paper as at the edges, and this Colour changed according to the various Obliquity of the reflecting Paper, without any change in the Refractions or Shadow, or in the Light which fell upon the Paper. And therefore these Colours are to be derived from some other Cause than the new Modifications of Light by Refractions and Shadows.

If it be asked, what then is their Cause? I answer, That the Paper in the posture de, being more oblique to the more refrangible Rays than to the less refrangible ones, is more strongly illuminated by the latter than by the former, and therefore the less refrangible Rays are predominant in the reflected Light. And where-ever they are predominant in any Light, they tinge it with red or yellow, as may in some measure appear by the first Proposition of the first Part of this Book, and will more fully appear hereafter. And the contrary happens in the posture of the Paper δε, the more refrangible Rays being then predominant which always tinge Light with blues and violets.

Exper. 4. The Colours of Bubbles with which Children play are various, and change their Situation variously, without any respect to any Confine or Shadow. If such a Bubble be cover'd with a concave Glass, to keep it from being agitated by any Wind or Motion of the Air, the Colours will slowly and regularly change their situation, even whilst the Eye and the Bubble, and all Bodies which emit any Light, or cast any Shadow, remain unmoved. And therefore their Colours arise from some regular Cause which depends not on any Confine of Shadow. What this Cause is will be shewed in the next Book.

To these Experiments may be added the tenth Experiment of the first Part of this first Book, where the Sun's Light in a dark Room being trajected through the parallel Superficies of two Prisms tied together in the form of a Parallelopipede, became totally of one uniform yellow or red Colour, at its emerging out of the Prisms. Here, in the production of these Colours, the Confine of Shadow can have nothing to do. For the Light changes from white to yellow, orange and red successively, without any alteration of the Confine of Shadow: And at both edges of the emerging Light where the contrary Confines of Shadow ought to produce different Effects, the Colour is one and the same, whether it be white, yellow, orange or red: And in the middle of the emerging Light, where there is no Confine of Shadow at all, the Colour is the very same as at the edges, the whole Light at its very first Emergence being of one uniform Colour, whether white, yellow, orange or red, and going on thence perpetually without any change of Colour, such as the Confine of Shadow is vulgarly supposed to work in refracted Light after its Emergence. Neither can these Colours arise from any new Modifications of the Light by Refractions, because they change successively from white to yellow, orange and red, while the Refractions remain the same, and also because the Refractions are made contrary ways by parallel Superficies which destroy one another's Effects. They arise not therefore from any Modifications of Light made by Refractions and Shadows, but have some other Cause. What that Cause is we shewed above in this tenth Experiment, and need not here repeat it.

There is yet another material Circumstance of this Experiment. For this emerging Light being by a third Prism HIK [in Fig. 22. Part I.] refracted towards the Paper PT, and there painting the usual Colours of the Prism, red, yellow, green, blue, violet: If these Colours arose from the Refractions of that Prism modifying the Light, they would not be in the Light before its Incidence on that Prism. And yet in that Experiment we found, that when by turning the two first Prisms about their common Axis all the Colours were made to vanish but the red; the Light which makes that red being left alone, appeared of the very same red Colour before its Incidence on the third Prism. And in general we find by other Experiments, that when the Rays which differ in Refrangibility are separated from one another, and any one Sort of them is considered apart, the Colour of the Light which they compose cannot be changed by any Refraction or Reflexion whatever, as it ought to be were Colours nothing else than Modifications of Light caused by Refractions, and Reflexions, and Shadows. This Unchangeableness of Colour I am now to describe in the following Proposition.

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