Siebdruckerei

Eintrag vom: 09.11.2013.

Statement 1 : On viewing the clear blue portion of the sky through a Calcite crystal the intensity of transmitted light varies as the crystal is rotated. Statement 2: The light coming from the sky is polarized due to the scattering of sunlight by particles in the atmosphere.

 

When a white light (from sun) enters the earth's atmosphere it gets scattered away due to the atmospheric particles. Since blue colour has the minimum wavelength so blue colour scatters the most and thus the sky appears blue.

 

The molecules of air and other fine particles in the atmosphere have size smaller than the wavelength of visible light. These are more effective in scattering light of shorter wavelengths at the blue end. This scattered blue light enters our eyes and makes the ocean and sky appear blue.

 

(a) Draw a neat and labelled diagram of the experimental set up for observing the scattering of light in a colloidal solution of sulphur to show how the sky appears blue and the sun appears red at sunrise and sunset. (b) Out of blue light and red light which one is scattered more easily ?