index values are tabulated using yellow light of wavelength 589 nm (frequency 5.1
× 10^14 Hz).
Although the variation in the values of the refractive index across the visible
spectrum is pretty small, when white light (which is a combination of all the colors
of the visible spectrum) hits a glass prism, the beam is split into its component
colors.
Visible Spectrum
White light is not colorless,
but rather is a combination
of all the colors in the visible
spectrum. Dispersion
through a prism occurs
because each component
color has a different wavelength
and frequency.Why? Because each color has its own index. Snell’s law tells us that each color
will have its own angle of refraction. Therefore, each color emerges from the prism