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Dispersion of Light
Dispersion of Light
than red light. Upon entry of white light at the first boundary of a triangular prism,
there will be a slight separation of the white light into the component colors of the
spectrum. Upon exiting the triangular prism at the second boundary, the separation
becomes even greater and ROYGBIV is observed in its splendor.
Angle of Deviation In optics, the net angular deflection experienced by a Light
Ray after one or more refractions or reflections. The total deviation of a light ray
can be computed, given the incidence angle .
The same calculation allows for determination of the emergence angle . The
angle of deviation is the angle between the original incident ray and the emergent
ray. Since the larger angle of deviation corresponds to a larger refractive index,
violet light would emerge with the largest angle of deviation and red light would
emerge with the smallest angle. Hence, the light emerging from the prism would
disperse into a spectrum of rainbow colors wherein each color corresponds to a
different angle of deviation. The difference between the angles of deviation of any
two rays is called the angle of dispersion.