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    Notes Related To Scattering

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    krsrijan7

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    Notes Related To Scattering

    Uploaded by

    krsrijan7
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    Original Title

    Notes Related to Scattering(1)

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    6 views5 pages

    Notes Related To Scattering

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    krsrijan7

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    Notes related to scattering

    Scattering

    When a parallel beam of light passes through a gas, a


    part of it appears in directions other than the incident
    direction. This phenomenon is called scattering of light.
    The basic process in scattering is absorption of light by
    the molecules followed by its re-radiation in different
    directions. The strength of scattering can be measured
    by the loss of energy in the light beam as it passes
    through the gas. It should be distinguished from the
    absorption of light as it passes through a medium. In
    absorption, the light energy is converted into internal
    energy of the medium whereas in scattering, the light
    energy is radiated in other directions. The strength of
    scattering depends on the wavelength of the light beside
    the size of the particles which cause scattering. If these
    particles are smaller than the wavelength, the scattering
    is proportional to 1/λ4". This is known as Rayleigh's law
    of scattering.
     Thus, red light is scattered the least and violet is
    scattered the most. This is why, red signals are used
    to indicate dangers. Such a signal goes to large
    distances without an appreciable loss due to
    scattering.

     The blue appearance of sky is due to scattering of


    sunlight from the atmosphere. When you look at the
    sky, it is the scattered light that enters the eyes.
    Among the shorter wavelengths, the colour blue is
    present in larger proportion in sunlight. Light of
    short wavelengths are strongly scattered by the air
    molecules and reach the observer. This explains the
    blue colour of sky.

     Another natural phenomenon related to the


    scattering of light is the red appearance of sun at
    the sunset and at the sunrise. At these times, the
    sunlight has to travel a large distance through the
    atmosphere. The blue and neighbouring colours are
    scattered away in the path and the light reaching
    the observer is predominantly red.

     If the earth had no atmosphere, the sky would


    appear black and stars could be seen during day
    hours. In fact, if you go about 20 km up, where the
    atmosphere becomes quite thin, the sky does appear
    black and stars are visible during day hours as
    astronauts have found.

    EXTRA FACT

    Besides air molecules, water particles, dust, etc., also


    scatter light. The appearance of sky is affected by the
    presence of these scattering centres. On a humid day
    before rains, the sky appears light blue whereas, on a
    clear day it appears deep blue. The change in the quality
    of colour of sky results from the fact that the water
    droplets and the dust particles may have size greater
    than the wavelength of light. Rayleigh's law of scattering
    does not operate in this case and colours other than blue
    may be scattered in larger proportion. The appearance
    of sky in large industrial cities is also different from
    villages. An automobile engine typically ejects about 10"
    particles per second, similarly for other machines. Such
    particles remain suspended in air for quite long time
    unless rain or wind clears them. Often the sky looks hazy
    with a greyish tinge in such areas.

    Q. Why are stars twinkling while planets aren't?

     Light refraction by several layers of the atmosphere


    with differing refractive indices causes the twinkling
    of stars.

     When light from afar strikes the earth's atmosphere,


    it refracts into each layer that it reaches. The
    twinkling of stars is due to this.
     Planets are significantly closer to the earth than
    stars and are considered extended sources. As a
    result, a planet can be thought of as a collection of
    numerous small light sources.

     Although light coming from individual point-sized


    sources flickers but the total amount of light
    entering our eye from all the individual point-sized
    sources average out to be constant.

     So there is no twinkling of planets.

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