What phenomenon causes white light to split into colors when passing through a prism?

When white light passes through a prism, it undergoes a process known as dispersion. Dispersion occurs because different colors of light travel at different speeds when they pass through a medium like glass. Each color has a different wavelength, which affects how much it bends, or refracts, as it enters and exits the prism.

In a prism, shorter wavelengths (like blue or violet light) are refracted more than longer wavelengths (like red light). This difference in the angle of refraction for each color causes the light to spread out into a spectrum, resulting in the visible range of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

So, while refraction is the bending of light, it is the specific interaction of light with the material that leads to the separation of colors, and this interaction is termed dispersion. Understanding this concept is crucial for exploring how prisms reveal the spectrum of light that makes up what we perceive as white light.