What is dispersion of light?

Dispersion of light is the phenomenon in which white light splits into its constituent colours when it passes through a prism or another transparent medium. This happens because different colours of light travel at different speeds in the medium and bend by different amounts.

The seven colours produced are Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red (VIBGYOR). A rainbow is a natural example of the dispersion of sunlight by water droplets in the atmosphere.