Dispersion
From Free net encyclopedia
Dispersion can mean any of several things:
- Distribution of fruit and its seeds through biological dispersal.
In physics:
- A phenomenon that causes the separation of a wave into components of varying frequency. See dispersion (optics) and dispersion (water waves). When dealing with optical fibres there can also be dispersion of different modes in the fibre and of different polarizations.
- In fluid dynamics
- Dispersive mass transfer is spreading of mass from highly concentrated areas to lower concentrated areas.
In the technical terminology of gemology:
- The difference in the refractive index of a material at the B and G Fraunhofer wavelengths of 686.7 nm and 430.8 nm. Simply, the degree to which the gemstone shows fire or color. See Abbe number and dispersion (optics).
In chemistry:
- A stable or unstable system of fine particles, larger than colloidal size, evenly distributed in a medium.
- The fraction of atoms of a material exposed to the surface. See dispersion (materials science).
In mathematics: