Radiant Heat and Light 



171 



FIG. 95. Explain why the breakers are white and the sea green or blue. 



green, blue, indigo, and violet. As the white light of 

 the sun passes through the raindrops, the violet part 

 of the light is bent more than any of the rest, the indigo 

 part is bent not quite so much, and so on to the red, 

 which is bent least of all. So all the colors fan out from 

 the single beam of white light and form a band of color, 

 which we call the rainbow. 



How we can tell what the sun and stars are made of. 

 When a gas or vapor becomes hot enough to give off light 

 (when it is incandescent), it does not give off white 

 light but light of different colors. An experiment will 

 let you see this for yourself. 



Experiment 53. Sprinkle a little copper sulfate (blue- 

 stone) in the flame of a Bunsen burner. What color does 

 it make the flame ? 



