Consider how the spectrum of visible light is dispersed by a prism and by a diffraction grating. Which description is most complete? Question 2 options: A prism bends blue light more than red light but the angle of diffraction for blue light is less than for red light. White light can pass with no dispersion through a prism but not through a diffraction grating. There is little difference in how light is dispersed by the two methods. The diffraction grating behavior is based on Snell's Law and the prism behavior is based on the index of refraction.

The scattering of light in its spectrum occurs by two different phenomena. In the case of the prism, light is scattered because the index of refraction of the material depends on the wavelength, according to the law of refraction.

n₁ sin θ₁ = n₂ sin θ₂

if the cousin is in the air n1 = 1 and n2 is the refractive index of the prism

sin θ₂ = (sin θ) / n

Since the refractive index depends on the wavelength, light is scattered in its spectrum.

For the diffraction grating, the dispersion adhesiveness to diffraction in multiple slits, and is described by the expression

a sin θ = mλ

sin θ= mλ/a

where m is an integer indicating the order of the spectrum, the separation is due to the change in wavelength.

In black the separation of the network is much greater in the network because a is very small and in the prism the change of the index of refraction is small.