Saturday, March 16, 2013

What is a similarity between reflection and dispersion?

Reflection and dispersion are both phenomena associated with light and we typically observe them, when working with visible light. They are observed when the light is incident on a surface. In case of reflection, the light simply bounces off the surface, that is, reflected from the surface. This can be commonly observed by shining some light at a plane mirror. Dispersion occurs when the interface (between two media, such as air and glass) causes the refraction of light on the basis of its wavelength. Refraction is the bending of light as it enter a different medium. In case of dispersion, different fragments of visible light get refracted differently according to their respective wavelengths and we obtain a spectrum of colors. An example of dispersion is colors we see when light passes through a prism. Another common example is rainbow, which is a combination of reflection and refraction, as the light passes through raindrops. 


Hope this helps. 

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