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DISPERSION

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 318 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DISPERSION , in See also:

OPTICS. When a See also:beam of See also:light which is not homogeneous in See also:character, i.e. which does not consist of See also:simple vibrations of a definite See also:wave-length, undergoes See also:refraction at the See also:surface of any transparent See also:medium, the different See also:colours corresponding to the different wave-lengths become separated or dispersed. Thus, if a See also:ray of See also:white light AO (fig. 1) enters obliquely A into the surface of a See also:block of See also:glass at 0, it gives rise to the divergent See also:system of rays ORV, varying continuously in See also:colour from red to See also:violet, the red ray OR being least refracted and the violet ray OV most so. The See also:order of the successive colours in all colourless transparent See also:media is red, See also:orange, yellow, See also:green, See also:blue, See also:indigo and violet. Dispersion is therefore due to the fact that rays of different colours possess different refrangibilities. The simplest way of showing dispersion is to refract a narrow beam of sunlight through a See also:prism of glass or prismatic See also:vessel containing See also:water or other clear liquid. As the light is twice refracted, the dispersion is increased, and the rays, after trans-See also:mission through the prism, See also:form a divergent system, which may be allowed to fall on a See also:sheet of white See also:paper, forming the well-known See also:solar spectrum. This method was employed by See also:Sir See also:Isaac See also:Newton, whose experiments constitute the earliest systematic investigation of the phenomenon. Let 0 (fig. 2) represent a small hole in the shutter of a darkened See also:room, and OS a narrowbeam of sunlight which is allowed to fall on a white See also:screen so as to form an See also:image of the See also:sun at S. If now the prism P be interposed as in the figure, the whole beam is not only refracted up-See also:ward, but also spread out into the spectrum RV, the See also:horizontal breadth of the See also:band of colours being the same as that of the See also:original image S.

In an experiment similar to FIG. 2. that here represented, Newton made a small hole in the screen and another small hole in a second screen placed behind the first. By slightly turning the prism P, the position of the spectrum on the first screen could be shifted sufficiently to cause light of any desired colour to pass through. Some of this light also passed through the second hole, and thus he obtained a narrow beam of practically homogeneous light in a fixed direction (the See also:

line joining the apertures in the two screens). Operating on this beam with a second prism, he found that the homogeneous light was not dispersed, and also that it was more refracted the nearer the point from which it was taken approached to the violet end of the spectrum RV. This confirmed his previous conclusion that the rays increase in refrangibility from red to violet. Newton also made use of the method of crossed prisms, which has been found of See also:great use in studying dispersion. The prism P (fig. 3) refracts upwards. while the prism Q, which has its refracting edge perpendicular to that of P, refracts towards the right. The combined effect of the two is to See also:pro-duce a spectrum sloping up from See also:left to right. The spectrum will be straight if the two prisms aresimilar in dispersive See also:property, but if one of them is See also:con- structed of a material which possesses any peculiarity in this respect it will be revealed by the curvature of the spectrum.

The coloured See also:

borders seen in the images produced by simple lenses are due to dispersion. The explanation of the colours of the See also:rainbow, which are also due to dispersion, was given by Newton, although it was known previously to be due to refraction in the drops of See also:rain (see RAINBOW). According to the wave-theory of light, refraction (q.v.) is due to a See also:change of velocity when light passes from one medium to another. The phenomenon of dispersion shows that in dispersive media the velocity is different for See also:lights of different wave-lengths. In See also:free space, light of all wave-lengths is propagated with the same velocity, as is shown by the fact that stars, when occulted by the See also:moon or See also:planets, preserve their white colour up to the last moment of disappearance, which would not be the See also:case if one colour reached the See also:eye later than another. The See also:absence of colour changes in variable stars or in the See also:appearance of new stars is further See also:evidence of the same fact. All material media, however, are more or less dispersive. In See also:air and other gases, at See also:ordinary pressures, the dispersion is very small, because the refractivity is small. The dispersive See also:powers of gases are, however, generally comparable with those of liquids and solids. ,Dispersive See also:Power.—In order to find the amount of dispersion caused by' any given prism, the deviations produced by it on two rays of any definite pure colours may be measured. The See also:angle of difference between these deviations is called the dispersion for those rays. For this purpose the C and F lines in the spark-spectrum of See also:hydrogen, situated in the red and blue respectively, are usually employed.

If Ss and Sc are the angular deviations of these rays, then SF —Sc is called the mean dispersion of the prism. If the refracting angle of the prism is small, then the ratio of the dispersion to the mean deviation of the two rays is the dispersive power of the material of the prism. Instead of the mean deviation, i (SF+Sc), it is more usual to take the deviation of some intermediate ray. The exact position of the selected ray does not See also:

matter much, but the yellow D line of See also:sodium is the most convenient. If • we denote its deviation by SD, then we may put Dispersive power = (SF—Sc) /SD . . . (1). This quantity may readily be expressed in terms of the refractive indices for the three colours, for if A is the angle of the prism (sup-posed small) Sc=(,c—)A, 6D= (AD — I) A, OF (AF— OA, where sic, AD; MP are the respective indices of refraction. This gives at once Dispersive power = (µF—µc)/OLD—1) (2). The second of these two expressions is generally given as the See also:definition of dispersive power. It is more useful than (I), as the refractive indices may be measured with a prism of any convenient angle. By studying the dispersion of colours in water, See also:turpentine and See also:crown glass Newton was led to suppose that dispersion is proportional to refraction.

He concluded that there could be no refraction without dispersion, and hence that See also:

achromatism was impossible of attainment (see See also:ABERRATION). This conclusion was proved to be erroneous when See also:Chester M. See also:Hall in 1733 constructed achromatic lenses. Glasses can now be made differing considerably both in refractivity and dispersive power. Irrationality of Dispersion.—If we compare the spectrum produced by refraction in a glass prism with that of a diffraction grating, we find not only that the order of colours is reversed, but also that the same colours do not occupy corresponding lengths on the two spectra, the blue and violet being much more extended in the refraction• spectrum. The refraction spectra for different media also differ amongst themselves. This shows that the connexion between the refrangibility of light and its wave-length does not obey any simple See also:law, but depends on the nature of the refracting medium. This property is referred to as the " irrationality of dispersion." In a diffraction spectrum the diffraction is proportional to the wave-length, and the spectrum is said to be " normal." If the increase of the angle of refraction were proportional to the diminution of wave-length for a prism of any material, the resulting spectrum would also be normal. This, however, is not the case with ordinary refracting media, the refrangibility generally increasing more and more rapidly as the wave-length diminishes. The irrationality of dispersion is well illustrated by C.Christiansen's experiments on the dispersive properties of white powders. If the See also:powder of a transparent substance is immersed in a liquid of the same refractive See also:index, the mixture becomes transparent and a measurement of the refractive index of the liquid gives the refractivity of the powder. Christiansen found, in an investigation of this See also:kind, that the refractivity of the liquid could only be got to match that of the powder for mono-See also:chromatic light, and that, if white light were used, brilliant colour effects were obtained, which varied in a remarkable manner when small changes occurred in the refractive index of the liquid.

These effects are due to the difference in dispersive power of the powder and the liquid. If the refractive index is, for instance, the same for both in the case of green light, and a source of white light is viewed through the mixture, the green component will be completely transmitted, while the other colours are more or less scattered by multiple reflections and refractions at the surfaces of the powdered substance. Very striking colour changes are observed, according to R. W. See also:

Wood, when white light is transmitted through a See also:paste made of powdered See also:quartz and a mixture of See also:carbon bisulphide with benzol having the same refractive index as the quartz for yellow light. In this case small temperature changes alter the refractivity of the liquid without appreciably affecting the quartz. R. W. Wood has studied the iridescent colours seen when a precipitate of See also:potassium silicofluoride is produced by adding silicofluoric See also:acid to a See also:solution of potassium chloride, and found that they are due to the same cause, the refractive index of the See also:minute crystals precipitated being about the same as that of the solution, which latter can be varied by dilution. Anomalous Dispersion.—In some media the usual order of the colours is changed. This curious phenomenon was noticed by W. H.

See also:

Fox See also:Talbot about 1840, but does not seem to have become generally known. In 186o F. P. See also:Leroux discovered that See also:iodine vapour refracted the red rays more than the violet, the intermediate colours not being transmitted ; and in 187o Christiansen found that an alcoholic solution of See also:fuchsine refracted the violet less than the red, the order of the successive colours being violet, red, orange. yellow; the green being absorbed and a dark See also:interval occurring between the violet and red. A. See also:Kundt found that similar effects occur with a large number of substances, in particular with all those which possess the property of " surface colour," i.e., which strongly reflect light of a definite colour, as de many of the See also:aniline dyes. Such bodies show strong absorption bands in those colours which they reflect, while of the transmitted light that which is of a slightly greater wave-length than the absorbed light has an abnormally great refrangibility, and that of a slightly shorter wave-length an abnormally small 'refrangibility. The name given to this phenomenon—' anomalous dispersion "—is an unfortunate one, as it has been found to obey a See also:regular law. In studying the dispersion of the aniline dyes, a prism with a very small refracting angle is made of two glass plates slightly inclinedto each other and enclosing a very thin See also:wedge of the dye, whicb is either melted. between the plates, or is in the form of a solution retained in position by surface-tension. Only very thin layers are sufficiently transparent to show the dispersion near or within an absorption band, and a large refracting angle is not required, the dispersion usually being very considerable. Another method, which has been used. by R. W.

Wood and C. E. Magnusson, is to introduce a thin film of the dye into one of the See also:

optical paths of a Michelson interferometer, and to determine the consequent displacement of the fringes. E. See also:Mach and J. Arbes have used a method depending on See also:total reflection (Drude's Theory of Optics, p.394). A very remarkable example of anomalous dispersion, which was first observed by A. Kundt, is that exhibited by the vapour of sodium. It has not been found practicable to make a prism of this vapour in the ordinary way by enclosing it in a glass vessel of the required shape, as sodium vapour attacks glass, quickly rendering it opaque. A. E. See also:Becquerel, however, investigated the character of the dis- tersion by using prism-shaped flames strongly coloured with sodium. ut. the best way of exhibiting the effect is by making use of a remarkable property of sodium vapour discovered by R.

W. Wood and employed for this purpose in a very ingenious manner. He found that when sodium is heated in a hard glass See also:

tube, the vapour which is formed is extraordinarily cohesive, only slowly spreading out in a See also:cloud with well-defined borders, which can be rendered visible by placing the tube in. front of a sodium See also:flame, against which the cloud appears See also:black. If a See also:long glass tube with See also:plane ends, and containing some pellets of sodium is heated in the See also:middle by a See also:row of burners, the cool ends remain practically vacuous and do not become obscured. The sodium vapour in the middle is very dense on the heated See also:side, the See also:density diminishing rapidly towards the upper See also:part of the tube, so that, although not prismatic in form, it refracts like a prism owing to the variation in density. Thus if a horizontal slit is illuminated by an arc See also:lamp, and the light—rendered parallel by a collimating lens—is transmitted through the sodium tube and focused on the See also:vertical slit of a spectroscope, the effect of the sodium vapour is to produce its refraction spec- trum vertically on the slit. The image of this seen through the glass prism of ~ted (~ Violet the spectroscope will appear lr as in fig. 4. The whole of the light, with the exception of a small part in the neighbourhood of the D lines, is practically undeviated, so that it illuminates only a very See also:short piece of the slit and is spread out into the ordinary spectrum. But the light of slightly greater wave-length than the D lines, being refracted strongly downward by the sodium vapour, illuminates the bottom of the slit; while that of slightly shorter wave-length is refracted upward and illuminates the See also:top of the slit. Fig. 4 represents the inverted image seen in the See also:telescope.

The light corresponding to the D lines and the space between them is absorbed, as evi- denced by the dark inter-val. If the sodium is only gently heated, so as to produce a comparatively rarefied vapour, and a grating spectroscope employed, the spectrum obtained is like that shown in fig. 5, which was the effect noticed by Becquerel with the sodium flame. Here the light corresponding to the space between the D lines is transmitted, being strongly refracted upward near Di, and downward near D2. The theory of anomalous dispersion has been applied in a very interesting way by W. H. See also:

Julius to explain the " flash spectrum " seen during a solar See also:eclipse at the moment at which totality occurs. The conditions of this phenomenon have been imitated in the laboratory by Wood, and the corresponding effect obtained. Theories of Dispersion.—The first See also:attempt at a mathematical theory of dispersion was made by A. See also:Cauchy and published in 1835. This was based on the See also:assumption that the medium in which the light is propagated is discontinuous and molecular in character, the molecules being subject to a mutual attraction. Thus, if one See also:molecule is disturbed from its mean position, it communicates the disturbance to its neighbours, and so a wave is propagated.

The See also:

formula arrived at by Cauchy was n=A-~ B-h --+ -.... Xi n being the refractive index, X the wave-length, and A, B, C, &c., constants depending on the material, which diminish so rapidly that only the first three as here written need be taken into See also:account. If suitable values are chosen for these constants, the formula can be made to represent the dispersion of ordinary transparent media within the visible spectrum very well, but when extended to the infra-red region it often departs considerably from the truth. and it fails altogether in cases of anomalous dispersion. There are also See also:grave theoretical objections to Cauchy's formula. of The See also:modern theory of dispersion, the See also:foundation of which was laid by W. Sellmeier, is based upon the assumption that an interaction takes See also:place between See also:ether and matter. Selltneier adopted the elastic-solid theory of the ether, and imagined the molecules to be attached to the ether surrounding them, but free to vibrate about their mean positions within a limited range. Thus the ether within the dispersive medium is loaded with molecules which are forced to perform oscillations of the same See also:period as that of the transmitted wave. It can be shown mathematically that the velocity of See also:propagation will be greatly increased if the frequency of the light-wave is slightly greater, and greatly diminished if it is slightly less than the natural frequency of the molecules; also that these effects become less and less marked as the difference in the two frequencies increases. This is exactly in accordance with the observed facts in the case of substances showing anomalous dispersion. Sellmeier's theory did not take account of absorption, and cannot be applied to calculate the dispersion within a broad absorption band. H. von See also:Helmholtz, working on a similar See also:hypothesis, but with a frictional See also:term introduced into his equations, obtained formulae which are applicable to cases of absorption.

A modified form of Helmholtz's See also:

equation, due to E. See also:Ketteler and known as the Ketteler-Helmholtz formula, has been much used in calculating dispersion, and expresses the facts with remarkable accuracy. P. Drude has obtained a similar formula based on the electromagnetic theory, thus placing the theory of dispersion on a much more satisfactory basis. The fundamental assumption is that the medium contains positively and negatively charged ions or electrons which are acted on by the periodic electric forces which occur in wave propagation on See also:Maxwell's theory. The equations finally arrived at are which is identical with Sellmeier's result. As X. is a wave-length corresponding to an absorption band, this formula can be used to find values of X. which satisfy the observed values of n within the region of transparency, and so to determine where the absorption bands are situated. In this way the existence of bands in the infra-red part of the spectrum has been predicted in the case of quartz and detected by experiments on the selective reflection of the material. References.—For the theory of dispersion see P. Drude, Theory of Optics (Eng. trans.) ; R. W. Wood, See also:Physical Optics; and A.

Schuster, Theory of Optics. For descriptive accounts, see Wood's Physical Optics, T. See also:

Preston's Theory of Light, E. Edser's Light. The last See also:work contains an elementary treatment of Sellmeier's theory. (J. R. C.) D'See also:ISRAELI (or DISRAELI), ISAAC (1766-1848), See also:English See also:man of letters, See also:father of the See also:earl of See also:Beaconsfield (q.v.), was See also:born at See also:Enfield in May 1766. He belonged to a Jewish See also:family which, having been driven by the See also:Inquisition from See also:Spain, towards the end of the 15th See also:century, settled as merchants at See also:Venice, and assumed the name which has become famous; it was generally spelt D'Israeli until the middle of the 19th century. In 1748 his father, See also:Benjamin D'Israeli, then only about eighteen years of See also:age, removed to See also:England, where, before passing the See also:prime of See also:life, he amassed a competent See also:fortune, and retired from business. He belonged to the See also:London See also:congregation of See also:Spanish and Portuguese See also:Jews, of which his son also remained a nominal member until after Benjamin D'Israeli died at the end of 1816. The strongly marked characteristics which determined Isaac D'Israeli's career were displayed to a singular degree even in his boyhood.

He spent his See also:

time over books and in long See also:day-dreams, and evinced the strongest distaste for business and all the more bustling pursuits of life. These idiosyncrasies met with no sympathy from either of his parents, whose ambitious plans for his future career they threatened to disappoint. When he was about fourteen, in the See also:hope of changing the See also:bent of his mind, his father sent him to live with his See also:agent at See also:Amsterdam, where he worked under a See also:tutor for four or five years. Here he studied See also:Bayle and See also:Voltaire, and became an ardent See also:disciple of See also:Rousseau. Here also he wrote a long poem against See also:commerce, which he produced as an exposition of his opinions when, on his return to England, his father announced his intention of placing him in a commercial See also:house at See also:Bordeaux. Against such a destiny D'Israeli's mind strongly revolted; and he carried his poem, with a See also:letter earnestly appealing for See also:advice and assistance, to See also:Samuel See also:Johnson; but when he called again a See also:week after. to receive an See also:answer, the packet was returned unopened—the great See also:Doctor was on his See also:death-See also:bed. He also addressed a letter to Dr Vicesimus See also:Knox, See also:master of See also:Tonbridge See also:Grammar School, begging to be received into his family, that he might enjoy the benefit of his learning and experience. How this application was answered we do not know. The evident firmness of his resolve, however, was not without effect. His parents gave up their purpose for a time. He was sent to travel in See also:France, and allowed to occupy himself as he wished; and he had the happiness of spending some months in See also:Paris, in the society of See also:literary men, and devoted to the literary pursuits in which he delighted. In the beginning of 1788 he returned See also:home, and in the next See also:year he attacked See also:Peter See also:Pindar (See also:John See also:Wolcot) in The See also:Gentleman's See also:Magazine in a poem in the manner of See also:Pope, " On the Abuse of See also:Satire." The authorship of the poem was much debated, and it was attributed by some to See also:William See also:Hayley, upon whom it was actually avenged, with characteristic savageness, by its victim.

It is greatly to Wolcot's See also:

credit that, on learning his See also:mistake, he sought the acquaintance of his See also:young opponent, whose friend he remained to the end of his life, Through the success of this satire D'Israeli made the acquaintance of See also:Henry See also:James See also:Pye, who helped to persuade his father that it would be a mistake to force him into a business career, and introduced him into literary circles. D'Israeli dedicated his first See also:book, A See also:Defence of See also:Poetry, to Pye in 1790. Henceforth his life was passed in the way he best liked—in quiet and almost uninterrupted study. In 1802 he married Maria Basevi, by whom he had five See also:children, of whom Benjamin (after-wards See also:Lord Beaconsfield and Prime See also:Minister of England) was the second. He was able to maintain his strenuous habits of study till he reached the advanced age of seventy-two, when he was forced, by See also:paralysis of the optic See also:nerve, to give up work almost entirely. He lived ten years longer, and died at his seat at Braden-See also:ham House, See also:Buckinghamshire, on the 19th of See also:January 1848. Isaac D'Israeli is most celebrated as the author of the Curiosities of Literature (1791, subsequent volumes in 1793, 1817, 1823 and 1834). It is a See also:miscellany of literary and See also:historical anecdotes, of original See also:critical remarks, and of interesting and curious See also:information of all kinds, animated by genuine literary feeling, See also:taste and See also:enthusiasm. With the Curiosities of Literature may be classed D'Israeli's Miscellanies, or Literary Recreations (1796), the Calamities of Authors (1812-1813), and the Quarrels of Authors (18r4). Towards the See also:close of his life D'Israeli projected a continuous See also:history of English literature, three volumes of which appeared in 1841 under the See also:title of the Amenities of Literature. But of all his See also:works the most delightful is his See also:Essay on the Literary Character (1795), which, like most of his writings, abounds in illustrative anecdotes. In the famous " Pope controversy " he supported See also:Byron and See also:Campbell against See also:Bowles and See also:Hazlitt by a defence of Pope in the form of a See also:criticism of See also:Joseph See also:Spence's Anecdotes contributed to the Quarterly See also:Review (See also:July 1820).

In 1797 D'Israeli published three novels; one of these, Mejnoun and Leila, the Arabian See also:

Petrarch and Laura, was said to be the first See also:oriental See also:romance in English. His last See also:navel, Despotism, or the Fall of the See also:Jesuits, appeared in 1811, but none of his romances was popular. He also published a slight See also:sketch of Jewish history, and especially of the growth of the See also:Talmud, entitled the See also:Genius of Judaism (1833). He was the author of two historical works—a brief defence of the literary merit and See also:personal and See also:political character of James I. (1816), and a learned Commentary on the Life and Reign of See also:King See also:Charles I. (1828-1831). This was recognized by the University of See also:Oxford, which conferred upon the author the honorary degree of D.C.L. As an historian D'Israeli is distinguished by two characteristics. In the first place, he had small See also:interest in politics, and no sympathy with the passionate fervour, or adequate appreciation of the importance, of political struggles. And, secondly, with a laborious zeal then less See also:common than now among where a is the wave-length in free ether of light whose refractive index is n, and X. the wave-length of light of the same period as the See also:electron, K is a coefficient of absorption, and D and g are constants. The sign of summation E is used in cases where there are several absorption bands, and consequently several similar terms on the right-See also:hand side, each with a different value of a,,,. This would occur if there were several kinds of ions, each with its own natural period.

In a region where there is no absorption, we have K=o and therefore g =o, and we have only one equation, namely, n2=1+E DX2 X2 _X2., n2( (I-K2) = I + E D?2(X2 _ Xm2) (X2-X2m)2.Tg2X2 , 2n2K = Dga2 (X2_),2m)2+g2X2 ' historians, he sought to bring to light fresh historical material by patient See also:

search for letters, diaries and other See also:manuscripts of value which had escaped the See also:notice of previous students. Indeed, the See also:honour has been claimed for him of being one of the founders of the modern school of historical See also:research. Of the amiable personal character and the placid life of Isaac D'Israeli a charming picture is to be found in the brief memoir 'refixed to the 18g9 edition of Curiosities of Literature, by his son i.ord Beaconsfield.

End of Article: DISPERSION

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