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In a dispersive prism, material dispersion (a wavelength-dependent refractive index) causes different colors to refract at different angles, splitting white light into a spectrum. A compact fluorescent lamp seen through an Amici prism. Dispersion is the phenomenon in which the phase velocity of a wave depends on its frequency. [1]
This is a result of the prism material's index of refraction varying with wavelength (dispersion). Generally, longer wavelengths (red) undergo a smaller deviation than shorter wavelengths (blue). The dispersion of white light into colors by a prism led Sir Isaac Newton to conclude that white light consisted of a mixture of different colors.
Dispersion occurs when sinusoidal waves of different wavelengths have different propagation velocities, so that a wave packet of mixed wavelengths tends to spread out in space. The speed of a plane wave, v {\displaystyle v} , is a function of the wave's wavelength λ {\displaystyle \lambda } :
Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves also experience refraction. How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed.
Diffraction, the apparent bending and spreading of light waves when they meet an obstruction; Dispersion; Double refraction or birefringence of calcite and other minerals; Double-slit experiment; Electroluminescence; Evanescent wave; Fluorescence, also called luminescence or photoluminescence; Mie scattering (Why clouds are white) Metamerism as ...
In fact, the wavelength is the principle characteristic of light which causes the speed change in different media which causes the angle change which causes dispersion. The wavelengths are more important than the color in this picture. The wave version gives a strong impression that the components are -bending- as they change media.
The result is that the angles determined by Snell's law also depend on frequency or wavelength, so that a ray of mixed wavelengths, such as white light, will spread or disperse. Such dispersion of light in glass or water underlies the origin of rainbows and other optical phenomena, in which different wavelengths appear as different colors.
This process of reflection/absorption is what causes the range of cloud color from white to black. [19] Other colors occur naturally in clouds. Bluish-grey is the result of light scattering within the cloud. In the visible spectrum, blue and green are at the short end of light's visible wavelengths, while red and yellow are at the long end. [20]