Newton’s disc: Learn White color turns into seven colors:
In this blog we learn how white color turns into seven colors, Newton’s Disc, using easily available material. This project is safe, low-cost, and perfect for students and beginners.
Do you think, why does the sun sometimes appear yellow, orange and reddish? Have you ever thought, what is the actual color of the sun? The Sun’s actual color is White.
What is newton’s disc?
Newton’s Disc is a circular disc divided into seven rainbow colours (VIBGYOR – Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red).
How Newton’s Disc works:
- The disc is painted with the seven colors of the rainbow.
- When you spin the disc very fast, the colors blend together.
- Your eyes see it as white (or nearly white).
Materials Required for Newton’s disc Activity:
- A4 sheet
- Sketches ( rainbow colors)
- Pencil
- Cardboard
- Scissors
- Glue
- Scale
- Thread (60 cm).
Step by step Instructions for Newton’s Disc Activity:
- Draw one circle on the A4 sheet
- Split seven sections of the circle.
- Color the rainbow colors ( violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red) in these section.
- Cut out this in a circle shape.
- Take a cardboard and glue it the circle on the cardboard
- Then cut out that cardboard also in a circle shape.
- Poke the two small holes in the circle’s center.
- Next take the 60 cm thread ( only thick thread).
- Insert the thread’s first side on one hole and then insert the thread’s other side on the other hole
- Bring the two ends of the thread together and tie a knot.
Now Newton’s disc is ready to spin.
- You need to hold both sides of the thread.
- The colored circle should be in the middle of the thread.
- Spin it very fast, now you will see the seven colors disappear and turn into white color ( or nearly white).
Why does it look white? (Science behind it):
- Color addition.
- Persistence vision.
Color addition:
Color Addition means mixing two or more colors of light to create a new color. It is mainly used in light sources like TVs, computer screens, and projectors.
Primary Colors of Light
The three main colors used in color addition are:
- Red
- Green
- Blue
These are called RGB colors
Examples of Color Addition:
When these colors mix, they form new colors:
Color 1: Color 2: Result
Red Green Yellow
Red Blue Magenta
Blue Green Cyan
Red + Blue + Green = White
Color addition is the process of mixing different colored lights to produce new colors. When red, green, and blue light combine equally, they produce white light.
Persistence of vision:
- Persistence of vision is a phenomenon where the human eye continues to see an image for a short time (about 1/16 of a second) even after the object is gone.
- Persistence of vision allows the human brain to blend fast-moving images into smooth motion, which is why we can enjoy movies, cartoons, and animations.
Simple Explanation:
When an image disappears, our brain still holds that image for a fraction of a second. If another image appears quickly after it, our brain combines them, making it look like continuous motion.
Example:
A good example is a flipbook.
When you flip the pages quickly, each page has a slightly different picture. Because of persistence of vision, your eyes see it as one moving animation instead of many separate images.
Conclusion of Newton’s Disc
The experiment with Isaac Newton’s disc proves that:
- White light is a mixture of seven colors (VIBGYOR).
- When the colored disc spins fast, the colors blend together.
- Due to persistence of vision, our eyes see the mixed colors as white (or nearly white), and Color addition is the process of combining different colored lights to create new colors.
Newton’s Disc demonstrates that white light is made up of different colors, and when these colors combine, they form white light.
