Dispersion of light thumb|Rainbows are formed by dispersion of light, in which the refraction angle depends on the light's frequency. Refraction is also responsible for rainbows and for the splitting of white light into a rainbow-spectrum as it passes through a glass prism. Glass and water have higher refractive indexes than air. When a beam of white light passes from air into a material having an index of refraction that varies with frequency (and wavelength), a phenomenon known as dispersion occurs, in which different coloured components of the white light are refracted at different angles, i.e., they bend by different amounts at the interface, so that they become separated. The different colors correspond to different frequencies and different wavelengths.
Dispersion of light thumb|Rainbows are formed by dispersion of light, in which the refraction angle depends on the light's frequency. Refraction is also responsible for rainbows and for the splitting of white light into a rainbow-spectrum as it passes through a glass prism. Glass and water have higher refractive indexes than air When a beam of white light passes from. air into a material having an index of refraction ,that varies with frequency (and wavelength), a phenomenon known as dispersion occurs, in which different coloured components of the white light are refracted at different angles, i.e. they bend by different amounts at the interface, so that they become separated. The different colors correspond to different frequencies and different wavelengths.