When white light passes through a prism, it is splitted into its constituent colours. This is because of ___________.

 

Dispersion of light refers to the separation of a composite beam of light into its constituent hues.

White light disperses because the hues of white light move at different rates through the glass prism.

The refractive index is defined as the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the medium, i.e.

Refractive index $\mathrm{\mu }=\frac{\mathrm{Speed} \mathrm{of} \mathrm{light} \mathrm{in} \mathrm{a} \mathrm{vacuum}\left(\mathrm{C}\right)}{\mathrm{Speed} \mathrm{of} \mathrm{light} \mathrm{in} \mathrm{a} \mathrm{medium}\left(\mathrm{v}\right)}$