Final answer:
Dispersion is the term used to describe when a ray of sunshine passes through a prism, causing white light to spread into its full spectrum of colors due to refraction.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a ray of sunshine passes through a prism, it is called dispersion. This phenomenon occurs because light is separated into different colors due to each wavelength bending by a different amount as it passes through the prism. This bending or changing of a light ray's direction is known as refraction, and it results in a spectrum of colors similar to a rainbow. Dispersion of sunlight through droplets of water in the atmosphere is what produces the rainbows we see after a rain shower, where water droplets act like many tiny prisms.
The spreading of white light into its full spectrum of wavelengths, producing a continuous spectrum, is an illustration of dispersion caused by the refractive properties of the prism. Different colors, or wavelengths, are bent to various degrees — violet light is bent more than red light, creating the familiar spectrum we see in a rainbow.