Difference between revisions 740906869 and 752205772 on enwiki

'''Light scattering''' is a form of [[scattering]] in which [[light]] in the form of propagating energy is scattered. Light scattering can be thought of as the deflection of a [[ray (optics)|ray]] from a straight path, for example by irregularities in the propagation [[optical medium|medium]], [[light scattering by particles|particles]], or in the interface between two media. Deviations from the [[law of reflection]] due to irregularities on a surface are also usually considere(contracted; show full)

==Types of scattering==
*[[Rayleigh scattering]] is the [[Elasticity (physics)|elastic]] scattering of light by molecules and [[Atmospheric particulate matter|particulate matter]] much smaller than the wavelength of the incident light. It occurs when light penetrates gaseous, liquid, or solid phases of matter.  Rayleigh scattering intensity has a very strong dependence on the size of the particles (it is proportional to the 
thirdsixth power of their diameter). It is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength of light, which means that the shorter wavelengths in visible white light (violet and blue) are scattered stronger than the longer wavelengths toward the red end of the visible spectrum. This type of scattering is therefore responsible for the blue color of the sky during the day.<ref>{{cite web |title=Blue sky and Rayleigh Scattering |url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/atmos/blusky.html |work=Hyp(contracted; show full)
*M. Mishchenko, L. Travis, A. Lacis: ''Scattering, Absorption, and Emission of Light by Small Particles'', Cambridge University Press, 2002.

==External links==
*[http://www.opticsinfobase.org/submit/ocis/OCIS_2007.pdf Optics Classification and Indexing Scheme (OCIS)], [[Optical Society of America]], 1997

[[Category:Glass physics]]
[[Category:Scattering]]
[[Category:Scattering, absorption and radiative transfer (optics)]]