Question

What is meant by scattering of light ?



The sky appears blue and the sun appears reddish at sunrise and sunset.



Explain these phenomenon with reason.

Answer 1

scattering of light:
molecules of air in the atmosphere absorb lights of different wavelengths and emits it in all directions.this phenomenon is called scattering of light.

the sky appears blue bcoz there are N2 and O2 molecules in the air and majority is of N2 . these absorb the wavelength of blue light and emits blue light.thats why sky appears blue

sky appears red in colour at sun rise and sunset bcoz the sun is very far from the earth during this time and all the wavelengths vanish before reaching our eye.and red is visible.so sky appears red at sunrise and sunset

Answer 2

The process of absorption and then re-emission of light energy by the dust particles, free water molecules and the molecules of the gases present in the atmosphere is called scattering of light.

✔️The sky appears blue due to scattering. The light from sun has to travel a long distance in atmosphere of earth before reaching the earth. The light gets scattered in different directions by air molecules present in its path. Due to its short wavelength, the blue colour is scattered the most. That is why the sky appears blue.

✔️The sun appears reddish at sunrise and sunset. This is because during sunrise and sunset, the light from the sun has to travel the longest distance through the atmosphere to reach the observer. The traveling from sun loses blue light of short wavelength due to scattering whereas the red light of longer wavelength is scattered less.Therefore, blue light is absent in sunlight reaching the observer as shown in the figure. Consequently, the sun and region near the sun is seen red.



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