Museo Galileo
italiano
previous
Virtual Museum
Prism with stand
    • Setting:
      Room XIII
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Date:
      second half 18th cent.
    • Materials:
      glass, wood, brass
    • Dimensions:
      320x144x240mm, prism side 25 mm
    • Inventory:
      745
    • Prism with stand (Inv. 745)

The wooden base holds two supports between which an equilateral glass prism is hinged by means of a brass ring nut. The prism can be fixed in the desired position with a pair of threaded knobs. Isaac Newton used instruments of this type for his famous experiments on the separation of white light into a polychromatic spectrum.