Dispersion and rainbow - JSS2 Basic science Lesson Note

Dispersion is the phenomenon where light is separated into its constituent colors as it passes through a medium, such as a prism or water droplets. This separation occurs because different wavelengths of light bend by different amounts when they enter a medium, causing them to spread out.

A rainbow is a natural optical phenomenon that forms when sunlight is dispersed and refracted by water droplets in the atmosphere, typically after a rain shower. The water droplets act like tiny prisms, separating sunlight into its various colors and creating the familiar arc of colors in the sky. The order of colors in a rainbow, from the outermost to the innermost, is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, with red on the outer edge and violet on the inner edge.