Question

what is dispersion of light?​

Answer 1

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• In optics, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency. Media having this common property may be termed dispersive media. Sometimes the term chromatic dispersion is used for specificity.

Answer 2

Answer:

In optics, dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency. Media having this common property may be termed dispersive media. Sometimes the term chromatic dispersion is used for specificity.

Explanation:

When white light is passed through a glass prism it splits into its spectrum of colours (in order violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red) and this process of white light splitting into its constituent colours is termed as dispersion.

The simplest way to explain dispersion is through dispersion in the prism.

Refraction Of Light Through Prism

How is light refracted through a glass prism?

When light travels from one medium to another, the speed of its propagation changes, as a result, it ‘bends’ or is ‘refracted’. Now when light passes through a prism, it is refracted towards the base of the triangle. Refraction Of Light Through Prism is well illustrated in the diagram given above.

The different colours in the spectrum of light have different wavelengths. Therefore, the speed with which they all bend varies depending on this wavelength, where violet bends the most, having the shortest wavelength and red bends the least, having the longest wavelength.

Because of this, the dispersion of white light into its spectrum of colours takes place when refracted through a prism.