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What is the scattering of light? On what factors does it depend?

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Last updated date: 16th Sep 2024
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Hint:The source of light may be explored completely. When light moves from one medium to another, such as air or a glass of water, a portion of the light is absorbed by the medium's particles, followed by subsequent radiation in a specific direction. Scattering of light is the term for this phenomenon. The size of the particles and the wavelength of the light affect the intensity of scattered light.

Complete answer:
Because of the waviness of the line and its interaction with a particle, shorter wavelengths and high frequencies scatter more. The waiver a line is, the more likely it is to intersect with a particle. Longer wavelengths, on the other hand, have a lower frequency and are straighter, therefore the chances of colliding with a particle are lower.

Due to refraction and the entire internal reflection of light, the bending of multicoloured light can be seen in the afternoon. In different directions, the wavelength of sunlight produces distinct colours. The red colour of the sun in the morning and the blue colour of the sky are explained by Rayleigh scattering theory.If \[p\] is the probability of scattering and $\lambda $ is the wavelength of light, the equation becomes:
$p \propto \dfrac{1}{{{\lambda ^4}}}$
For shorter wavelengths, the chance of scattering increases rapidly, and it is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength of light.

Factors it depends on: As from the above discussion we can say that if the wavelength increases then scattering of light decreases. We know that wavelength and frequency are inversely related to one another, as shown by the famous equation:
$c = \nu \lambda $
Which gives us,
$\nu \propto \dfrac{1}{\lambda }$

So we can say that the scattering of light also depends on frequency of light.

Note:The number of waves that travel through a given spot in a given amount of time is known as frequency. The low point of the wave cycle is known as the trough. The distance between two successive peaks is measured in wavelength. Remember that wavelength and frequency are inversely proportionate and so connected, so anything that is affected by wavelength is also affected by frequency. Take into consideration the particle's size as well.