dispersive power

American  

noun

Optics.

1. a measure of the ability of a substance to disperse light, equal to the quotient of the difference in refractive indices of the substance for two representative wavelengths divided by the difference of the refractive index for an intermediate wavelength and 1.

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Example Sentences

Further, it has been shown that several of the so-called "basic" lines are resolved, by spectroscopes of great dispersive power, into groups of two or more lines, which lines are not coincident in different spectra.

From Heroes of Science Chemists by Muir, M. M. Pattison (Matthew Moncrieff Pattison)

Upon applying a greater dispersive power he noticed that the line "D" was a double one; but so also was the sodium line under these conditions.

From New and Original Theories of the Great Physical Forces by Rogers, Henry Raymond

This shortness in the latter cases is due to the small dispersive power of the three minerals mentioned.

From A Text-Book of Precious Stones for Jewelers and the Gem-Loving Public by Wade, Frank Bertram

The second of these two expressions is generally given as the definition of dispersive power.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5 "Dinard" to "Dodsworth" by Various

Glasses can now be made differing considerably both in refractivity and dispersive power.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 5 "Dinard" to "Dodsworth" by Various