The Newton Missing Experiment (original) (raw)
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The spectral colours do not obey Newton's laws of refraction
The spectral colours do not obey Newton's laws of refraction in subjective prismatic experiments We shall begin with the first experiment from Opticks. I took a black oblong stiff Paper terminated by Parallel Sides, and with a Perpendicular Right Line drawn cross from one Side to the other, distinguished it into two equal parts. One of these parts I painted with a red colour and the other one with a blue. The Paper was very black, and the Colours intense and thickly laid on, do the Phaenomenon might be more conspicuous. This Paper I view'd through a Prism of Solid Glass, whose two Sides though which the Light passed to the Eye were plane and well polished, and contained an Angle of about sixty degrees; which Angle I call the refracting Angle of the Prism... These things being thus ordered, I found that if the refracting Angle of the Prism be turned upwards, so that the Paper may seem to be lifted upwards by the Refraction, its blue half will be lifted higher by the Refraction than its red half. But if the refracting Angle of the Prism be turned downward, so that the Paper may seem to be carried lower by the Refraction, its blue half will be carried something lower thereby than its red half. Wherefore in both Cases the Light which comes from the blue half of the Paper through the Prism to the Eye, does in like Circumstances suffer a greater Refraction than the Light which comes from the red half, and by consequence is more refrangible.
Revista Mexicana De Fisica E, 2006
Some characteristics of Newton's philosophical method relevant to his works First Paper on Light and Colours (1672) y Opticks (1704) are discussed. It is shown from his prism experiments using different materials described in those works that it is possible that he may have carried out experiments with air prisms in water. This would have questioned the inductive conclusion that red rays are always less refracted than blue ones. Finally, and with a pedagogical intention, an experiment is reported to illustrate the result obtained depending on the material of the prism and of the medium.
Experiment and mathematics in Newton's theory of color
Physics Today, 1984
On 18 January 1672 Isaac Newton wrote Henry Oldenburg, Secretary of the Royal Society, that he would send him a paper that he modestly described as “being in my Judgment the oddest if not the most considerable detection wch hath hitherto beene made in the operations of Nature.” Newton was not referring to his theory of gravitation—that was still more than a dozen years away—but rather to his new theory of the nature of white light and color. He had discovered that rays of different color have different degrees of refrangibility—or, as we would put it, that the index of refraction varies with wavelength—and that white light and, in particular, sunlight consist of a mixture of innumerable colors. Less than three weeks later, as Newton promised, he sent to the Royal Society his famous paper, “A New theory about light and colors,” which was published at once in the Philosophical Transactions. In the “New theory” he boldly proclaims: “A naturalist would scearce expect to see ye science o...
The optical papers of Isaac Newton
1984
List of plates Preface Editorial note Abbreviated references Introduction Synopsis of the Lectiones opticae and Optica and their major differences Concordance of article numbers Lectiones opitcae: Optica: Part I. The Refractions of Light Rays: 1. The refrangibility of rays differs 2. The measure of refractions 3. The refractions of planes 4. The refractions of curved surfaces Part II. The Origin of Colors: 5. The doctrine of colors is set forth and proved by prismatic experiments 6. Various phenomena of colors Bibliography Index.
Newton's Scaffolding: the instrumental roles of his optical hypotheses
2018
Early modern experimental philosophers often appear to commit to, and utilise, corpuscular and mechanical hypotheses. This is somewhat mysterious: such hypotheses frequently appear to be simply assumed, odd for a research program which emphasises the careful experimental accumulation of facts. Isaac Newton was one such experimental philosopher, and his optical work is considered a clear example of the experimental method. Focusing on his optical investigations, I identify three roles for hypotheses. Firstly, Newton introduces a hypothesis to explicate his abstract theory. The purpose here is primarily to improve understanding or uptake of the theory. Secondly, he uses a hypothesis as a platform from which to generate some crucial experiments to decide between competing accounts. The purpose here is to suggest experiments in order to bring a dispute to empirical resolution. Thirdly, he uses a hypothesis to suggest an underlying physical cause, which he then operationalises and repres...
The properties and the nature of light: the study of Newton's work and the teaching of optics
Science and Education, 2005
The history of science shows that for each scientific issue there may be more than one models that are simultaneously accepted by the scientific community. One such case concerns the wave and corpuscular models of light. Newton claimed that he had proved some properties of light based on a set of minimal assumptions, without any commitments to any one of the two models. This set of assumptions constitutes the geometrical model of light as a set of rays propagating in space. We discuss this model and the historical reasons for which it had the head-primacy amongst the relevant models. We argue that this model is indispensable in structuring the curriculum in Optics and attempt to validate it epistemologically. Finally, we discuss an approach for alleviating the implicit assumptions that students make on the nature of light and the subsequent interference of geometrical optics in teaching the properties of light related to its wave-like nature.