Prism Lab
Refraction and optics bench
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Rebuilt from scratch: white light that opens into a spectrum, angles you can type, and a bench that works with the lights off.
Prism Lab is an optics bench in your pocket. Put a piece of glass on the graph paper, aim the laser at it, and watch the light bend, bounce and split, with every angle measured for you.
It follows the experiments from a school ray box kit, so it works as a companion to the lab or on its own.
THE BENCH
• Nine pieces: a simple surface, 45-90-45 and 60-60-60 prisms, rectangle, square, semicircle, convex and concave lenses, and an optical fibre.
• Drag the laser and where it aims. The angles of incidence, refraction and reflection update as you move.
• Tap any angle and type the value you want. The laser swings there so you can see how it gets to it.
• One, three or five parallel beams, to find the focus of a lens.
MATERIALS
• 119 materials for the piece and for what surrounds it: glasses, liquids, gems and gases, each with its refractive index.
• The critical angle is worked out for every pair, and you can see total internal reflection happen.
COLOUR
• White light opens into a spectrum, because each colour bends by its own amount.
• 77 materials use published dispersion data. For the rest the app tells you the spread is an estimate.
• Red, yellow, green, blue and violet lasers, in the width you choose.
LIGHTS OFF
• Turn the lights off and the beams glow, as in a dark classroom.
NO STRINGS
• No account, no ads, and no data collected.
• Everything is free. If you find it useful you can buy the developers a coffee.
In English, Spanish and French, for iPhone and iPad.
Prism Lab is back, rebuilt from scratch for today's iPhone and iPad.
• A new look: graph paper, ink and a highlighter-yellow beam.
• White light that splits into colours.
• Tap an angle to type it.
• Lights-off mode.
• Laser colour and width settings.
• 119 materials, with measured dispersion for 77 of them.
The developer, KZ Labs, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- KZ Labs SAS
- Size
- 2.3 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 17.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 17.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 17.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 14.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 2 more
- English, French, Spanish
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Buy me a coffee $2.99
- Copyright
- © Kz Labs