A question \'State the term used to describe what happens to the ray of red ligh
ID: 1863555 • Letter: A
Question
A question 'State the term used to describe what happens to the ray of red light as it enters and leaves the prism [1]'. To that, I answered 'Refraction'. The teacher said it should 'Refraction and dispersion'. I don't understand how dispersion could occur when a monochromatic ray enters a prism. Dispersion, according to several sources including the IGCSE book and the graded summaries, is the separation of white light when it enters a prism. This phenomenon occurs because white light consists of all the colours in the visible spectrum which have a different wavelength and are therefore refracted differently. Red light however, consists of only one wavelength which changes when it enters the prism.
Explanation / Answer
Since the light is monochromatic there will be no dispersion at all. light will only bent after passing through prism due to differences in refractive index of medium.but this is the only case when light is highly monochromatic,if there is any small difference in frequency for other colour too then there will be dispersion also.