Museo Galileo
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Virtual Museum
Prism with stand
    • Setting:
      Room XV
    • Maker:
      unknown
    • Date:
      second half 18th cent.
    • Materials:
      glass, wood, brass
    • Dimensions:
      185x74x89 mm, prism side 33 mm
    • Inventory:
      748
    • Prism with stand (Inv. 748)

The wooden base holds two supports between which an equilateral glass prism is hinged by means of a brass ring nut. The base has two holes for inserting the pins of a support (blocked by the small plate) to position the prism on an optical bench or other fixture. Closely resembles prism inv. 746. Isaac Newton used instruments of this type for his famous experiments on the separation of white light into a polychromatic spectrum.