Dispersion of Light

Dispersion of Light
Dispersion is the splitting of white light into its constituent colors.
Dispersion of visible light produces the colors red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, and violet.
 Dispersion of Light
Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest
wavelength.
Spectrum is the band of colors.
Dispersion of light can be seen
when white light passes
through a glass prism or a
diffraction grating.

Prism  is a transparent optical

element with flat, polished
surfaces that refract light.
 Dispersion of Light by a prism
It was Sir Isaac Newton who first discovered that ordinary white light is a
combination of colors. Newton passed sunlight through a triangular piece
of glass called prism that resulted in sunlight fanning out into a band of
colors called spectrum.
 Dispersion of Light by a prism
Light of different colors travels at different speeds in particular material.
Hence, a particular material has different index refraction for each color of
light. In general, the index of refraction increases as the wavelength
decreases.
Rainbow is natures spectacular
display of dispersion of light,
formed when sunlight passes
through water droplets
suspended in air after a rain
shower
The droplet of water acting like
mini prism disperses the light.
 Dispersion of Light by a prism
Rene Descartes is the first one who first gave a detailed explanation of the
formation of rainbow by mathematically tracing the path of light in spherical
drop of water in 1637.
1. On entering a water droplet at
point A, part of the light is refracted.
Violet is deviated the most, while red
the least.
2. light, upon hitting the back surface
of the droplet, is reflected internally.

3. When light exits the water-air

interface, it is again refracted and
dispersed.
 Diffraction Grating
Diffraction is the bending of light around an obstacle and subsequent
spreading of light waves into the region behind the obstacle. The obstacle
may be a slit, a wire, a hole, strands of hair, feathers, strings, or a
straightedge.
Diffraction pattern is light
bordered by alternating light
and dark bands.
Francesco Gramaldi a Jesuit
priest first reported diffraction
of light by an obstacle in 1650.
 Diffraction Grating
Diffraction grating is developed by Joseph Fraunhofer in 1821. A diffraction
grating is a piece of glass over which thousands of fine parallel lines
equally spaced and very closed to one another had been scratched
usually with a diamond point.

The clear spaces between the

scratches are the slits. The
scratches are considered
opaque and light does not
pass through.
 Difference between dispersion of light;
Longer wavelengths are diffracted more than the shorter wavelengths. Visible light, upon
passing through a diffraction grating, is diffracted by different amounts depending on
wavelength. A diffraction grating can also dispersed visible light. A prism produces one
spectrum but the diffraction grating produces a series of spectra.

by a prism by a diffraction grating