Dispersion (or chromatic dispersion) refers to the way that light, under certain conditions, separates into its component wavelengths and the colours corresponding with each wavelength become visible to a human observer.
- Dispersion is the result of the relationship between refractive index and wavelength.
- Every wavelength of light is affected to a different degree by the refractive index of a medium. The result is that each wavelength changes direction and speed by a different amount.
- In the case of white light, the separate wavelengths span out with red at one end and violet at the other.
- A familiar example of dispersion is when white light strikes raindrops and a rainbow of colours becomes visible to an observer.
- As the light first enters and then exits a droplet it separates into its component wavelengths which the observer perceives as colour.
- Colour is not a property of electromagnetic radiation, but a feature of visual perception experienced by an observer.