Newton's Prism Experiment and Goethe's Objections

12. Multiple ray / Illuminant Equal Energy / Compr. Type B / CIELab
A continuous light band with flat spectrum is simulated by multiple rays. Each of them is interpreted
according to chapter 8. The content of the interpolated measurement array is multiplied
by the color-matching functions and the slope function. Then summed up in a second array
which contains CIE XYZ values for each wavelength. The content of the XYZ array is normalized
for Ymax =1 after finishing the measurement. The sum approximates an integration.
In the middle we have white light. At the ends we can see color fringes. This is Goethe’s
important observation on which he based his attack against Newton: colors appear at the
boundaries of light and shadow.
0.70
0.66
0.62
0.58
0.54
0.50
0.46
0.42
0.38
λ / µ m
0 1000
Illuminant Equal Energy
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