Dispersion

Dispersion can mean any of several things:

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• A phenomenon that causes the separation of a wave into components of varying frequency. See dispersion (optics) and dispersion (water waves).
• 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 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).
• Statistical dispersion.
• In mass transfer, Dispersive mass transfer is spreading of mass from highly concentrated areas to lower concentrated areas.