You are given prisms made of crown glass and flint glass with a wide variety of angles. Suggest a combination of prisms which will
(a) deviate a pencil of white light without much dispersion,
(b) disperse (and displace) a pencil of white light without much deviation.
Solution
(a)Place the two prisms beside each other. Make sure that their bases are on the opposite sides of the incident white light, with their faces touching each other. When the white light is incident on the first prism, it will get dispersed. When this dispersed light is incident on the second prism, it will recombine and white light will emerge from the combination of the two prisms.
(b)Take the system of the two prisms as suggested in answer (a). Adjust (increase) the angle of the flint-glass-prism so that the deviations due to the combination of the prisms become equal. This combination will disperse the pencil of white light without much deviation.
