If the answer is YES, a related follow-up question: if each visible color of the spectrum were to measure a centimeter in width, how far would I have to move the sensor from the red to detect the change from infrared to microwave, then to radio?
In the knowledge that Sir William Herschel discovered infrared by repeating Newton’s experiment, but with a thermometer to measure the temperature of each component of the spectrum, and after placing the thermometer a bit to the side of the red light, in darkness, noticed quite by accident that the device would still register heat, therefore an invisible yet very real component of light was there, warming the thermometer.
Depends on the material of the prism. A material being transparent to visible light does not imply it is transparent for other wavelengths, too.
This is true. For example, many plastics are opaque in the UV range. That’s why in UV spectrophotometry you need to use special cuvettes made out of quartz. Opacity and transparency of different materials in different wavelengths tends to be really surprising. You would never guess that a specific wavelength can’t pass through glass, but can pass through something that looks totally opaque to us.
Edit: spelling
That’s an absolute unit of a cuvette. I think you might have meant “quartz” :)
Good catch! I don’t know how these mistakes sneak in all the time. I should probably read the message three times before posting.