Chapter 3- Dispersion
and Scattering of Light
Upon completion of this session YOU are
able to:
• Explain the dispersion phenomena
• Solve dispersion problems with prism
• Describe the rainbow formation
• Describe scattering phenomena
• Explain why the sky is blue and sunset is red using
scattering concept
Color
• The human eye is sensitive to the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum
(=0.4-0.7 m):
• Intensity - light or dark;
• Wavelength – color.
• We see the objects because they emit and/or interact with light (reflection,
transmission, absorption, refraction, scattering, diffraction)
• Perception of color:
• Each color corresponds to a particular
wavelength.
• White: all wavelengths are present with
equal intensity;
• Black: no light is emitted and/or reflected
from the object.
• Color of emitted light and temperature:
• The sun appears white.
• Colder stars look redder (max is longer than max of the sun).
• Hotter stars look bluer (max is shorter than max of the sun).
Dispersion
Refraction of light by a
prism.
White light
Refraction of light by a
prism.
Refraction
Refraction of light by a
prism.
Refraction of light by a
prism.
This effect is called dispersion
Refraction of light by a
prism.
This effect is called dispersion
Refraction of light by a
prism.
This effect is called dispersion
It happens because white is a mixture
of all the colours in the rainbow
Wavelength and colour
White light is made up of different
colours with wavelengths ranging
from 0.0004mm (violet) to
0.0007mm (red).
Wavelength and colour
White light is made up of different
colours with wavelengths ranging
from 0.0004mm (violet) to
0.0007mm (red).
Lasers, however, only emit
light of a single colour and
wavelength.
This type of light is known as
monochromatic light.
Dispersion
• The index of refraction of a medium depends in
a slightly manner on the frequency of the light-
beam
• Different color rays deflect in different manner
during refraction: violet light is deflected more
than red…..
• By refraction we can decompose the white color
in its constituents--> A prism separates white
light into the colors of the rainbow: ROYGBIV
• We can do the opposite effect
too…..recombining the rainbow colors in white
light
• Atmospheric dispersion of light: rainbow
(dispersion on tinny water drops) or halos
(dispersion on tiny ice crystals)
DISPERSION
What do you see here?
[Link]
Dispersion
• The speed of light in vacuum is
the same for all wavelengths, but
the speed in a material substance
is different for different
wavelengths.
• The dependence of wave speed
and index of refraction on
wavelength is called dispersion.
• In most materials the value of n
decreases with increasing
wavelength and decreasing
frequency.
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
Dispersion
• This figure shows the dispersion curves of two common
glasses.
• n is higher when the wavelength is shorter.
• Therefore, violet light refracts more than red light.
Dispersion
• Ordinary white light is a superposition of waves
with all visible wavelengths.
• The band of dispersed colors is called a spectrum.
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
Color
• A prism disperses light. Newton used prisms to study
color.
• The emerging light from a second prism is white only
if the dispersion compensation mechanism is
incorporated.
Color
• The aperture blocks all other light beams, but only
allows the transmission of the green light passing
through the second prism.
Color
• Newton blocked all the rays of light from the first prism except for
those of one color. Only that color was seen through the second
prism and it was unchanged.
• Newton recognized that this meant the color is associated with
light itself; the prism was not altering the properties of light.
Color
• Experiments show:
1. What we perceive as white light is a mixture
of all colors. White light can be dispersed into
its various colors and, equally important,
mixing all the colors produces white light.
2. The index of refraction of a transparent
material differs slightly for different colors of
light. Glass has a slightly higher index of
refraction for violet light than for green light
or red light. Consequently, different colors of
light refract at slightly different angles.
Dispersion
Dispersing light with a prism
A ray incident on the hypotenuse 30°prism is deflected by 22.6°. If
the prism’s index of refraction for the deep violet light is 1.59. In
addition, the deep red light has an index of refraction of 1.54.
a. What is the deflection angle for deep red light?
b. If a beam of white light is dispersed by this prism, how wide is
the rainbow spectrum on a screen 2.0 m away?
Dispersing light
SOLVE
a. If n1 1.54 for deep red light, the refraction angle is
This example showed that the deflection angle is
ϕ 2 1, so deep red light is deflected by ϕred
20.35°. This angle is slightly smaller than the deflection
angle for violet light, ϕviolet 22.60°.
300
20.350
Incoming
22.60
light beam
r = 2m
Θ = 2.250 s
• Consider the light beam propagate out from the prism as
a spherical wave, where the radius r = distance of 2 m (r
= d since the geometry is very small) .
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
Arc length
Dispersing light with a prism
b. The entire spectrum is spread between ϕred 20.35°
and ϕviolet 22.60°. The angular spread is
ϕviolet ϕred 2.25° 0.0393 rad
At distance r, the spectrum spans an arc length
s r (2.0 m)(0.0393 rad) 0.0785 m 7.9 cm
ASSESS Notice that we needed three significant figures for ϕred
and ϕviolet in order to determine , the difference between the
two angles, to two significant figures. The angle is so small that
there’s no appreciable difference between arc length and a
straight line. The spectrum will be 7.9 cm wide at a distance of
2.0 m.
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
Angle of refraction & incidence-measured
from normal line
Deflection angle/deviation angle:
Question
(a). Light of wavelength 700 nm is incident on the face of a fused quartz
prism at an angle of i = 750 (with respect to the normal to the surface).
The apex angle of the prism is α = 600. Given n1=1, use the value of
n2(700nm) = 1.458 and calculate,
(i) angle of refraction at this first surface, s.
(ii) angle of incidence at the second surface, t.
(iii) angle of refraction at the second surface, r.
(iv) deflection angle between the incident and emerging rays, δ.
Answers
(i)
(ii)
Answers
(iii)
(iv)
[Link]
Dispersion and Rainbows
Rainbows
• A rainbow is a spectrum formed when
sunlight is dispersed by water droplets
in the atmosphere.
• Sunlight that falls on a water droplet is
refracted.
• Each color has a different frequency
so they are all refracted differently
resulting in dispersion.
• Although each droplet produces a
complete spectrum, an observer
positioned between the Sun and the
rain will see only a certain frequency
of light from each droplet.
How rainbows form
• When sunlight enters a
spherical water droplet
suspended in the air, it is
(partially) reflected from
the back surface of the
droplet, and is refracted
again upon exiting the
droplet.
• A light ray that enters the middle of the raindrop is
reflected straight back.
• All other rays exit the raindrop within an angle Δ of that
middle ray, with many rays “piling up” at the angle Δ.
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
How rainbows form
Rainbows
• The rainbow we see depends on the relative position of
the Sun, the droplets, and the observer.
• So technically no two people can see the same rainbow
at the same time.
Second-Order Rainbows
•The second order is outside of the first.
•It is also fainter and has the order of the colors reversed.
•Light rays that are reflected twice inside water droplets
produce this effect.
Third and Fourth Order
• These are very rare to see
• How many reflections in the water droplet of the
third order?
•3
• From top to bottom, what are the order of the
colors in a third order rainbow?
• Same as a first order rainbow
[Link]
Summary: Important Concepts
Summary: Important Concepts
• Example of dispersion concept in daily life: formation of rainbow.
Study how rainbow is formed: [Link]
rainbow-is-formed/
• Rainbow is produced after the rain, by reflection, refraction and
light dispersion process in droplets of water.
TIR: Total Internal
Preconditions for the formation of the Reflection
rainbow:
• Presence of raindrops.
• Sun should be at your back to observe the
rainbow.
• Because of the dispersion, white light
separates into different colors when
entering the raindrop, causing less
refraction of red light than blue light.
[Link]
[Link]
Scattering
• Light esp. from sunlight
propagates in straight lines.
• Refraction and reflection of
light beams obey the Snell’s
law.
• However, when there are
some inhomogenities in the
medium compositions, light
no longer obeys the Snell’s
law.
• This is called Scattering
[Link]
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
Scattering of light
• The scattering of light in the atmosphere depends on the size of the
scattering particles, R, and on the wavelength, , of the scattered light.
• Geometric scattering: R>>
• Rain drops (R~10-100 m) R
• All wavelengths equally scattered
• Optical effects: white clouds
• Mie scattering: R~
• Aerosols (R~0.01-1 m)
• Red scattered better than blue R
• Blue moon, blue sun
• Rayleigh scattering: R<<
• Air molecules (R~0.0001-0.001 mm)
• Blues scattered better than red
• Blue sky, blue mountains, red sunsets R
Light interaction with matter
• Wavelength ~ 500nm
• When light interacts with systems of much larger
sizes (few cm, m): Geometric optics
• When light interacts with systems of similar sizes:
Wave optics
• When light interacts with systems of much smaller
sizes (atoms and molecules): Scattering: it wiggles
the charges which in turn radiate light.
Light Scattering
• When light travels in a medium, it scatters from
individual atoms. When the arrangement of the
atoms is uniform and regular (solids, glass), the
light scattering from different atoms CANCELS. (no
scattering)
• In a gas, because its density fluctuates, the
scattering is strong. Here are some of the empirical
observations:
• Some wavelengths scatter more than others.
• Some polarizations scatter more than others.
Light Scattering
• We have been treating light as rays: straight lines
• If you zoom way in, recall that light is really a WAVE
• Ray optics don’t work anymore, and we consider something
called scattering
• Scattering is the reason the sky is blue, sunsets are red,
why you can see a laser beam in the air
Rayleigh Scattering
• The simplest type of scattering is called “Rayleigh
scattering”
• The rule you need to remember about Rayleigh
scattering is that:
• The shorter the wavelength of the incident light,
the more light is scattered
In other words,
• Blue light scatters more than red light
The Color of the Sun
The Color of The Sun
• Description: at sunrise and sunset the sun is yellow, orange or red
• Physical process: Rayleigh scattering by air molecules and fine dust
particles.
• Explanation: on clear days only the blue light is scattered away, on
hazy days the yellow and the orange wavelengths are also scattered
and only the red remains in the direct solar light.
• Conclusion: Red sunsets suggest that there is dust in the air
(pollution, haze over the ocean, volcanic activity, dust storms).
Rayleigh Scattering: Blue Sky
• Blue light scatters more than red light
• This is the reason that the sky is blue
• The light from the sun contains all visible
wavelengths
• It scatters from particles in the atmosphere
• Blue light scatters more than red, so we see
predominantly blue light when we look at the sky
Blue Sky
Blue Sky
• Description: on clear days the sky is blue and on hazy days the sky
is white.
• Physical process: Rayleigh scattering by air molecules.
• Explanation:
shorter (violet,
blue) are scattered
more efficiently by
air molecules than
longer (red).
• Conclusion: Clear
sky, distant objects
have a bluish hue.
[Link]
[Link]
Concept Question
We see the sky as blue because of sunlight scattering off
of particles in the atmosphere. The moon has no
atmosphere. Standing on the moon, what color does the
sky look when the sun is shining? (during the moon’s
“daytime”)
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] other color
Rayleigh Scattering: Sunsets
• Blue light scatters more than red light
• This is also the reason that sunsets are red
• At sunset, light from the sun has to travel through
more of the atmosphere, and the blue light
scatters away before the light reaches your eyes
• One way to think about it is that your sunset is
blue sky somewhere else on the earth, so they are
getting the blue light, and only the red and orange
get to you
Sunset
[Link]
Scattering of light
• When you look at the daytime sky, the light that you see is
sunlight that has been absorbed and then re-radiated in a
variety of directions.
• This process is called scattering.
• Light scattered by air molecules contains 15 times as much
blue light as red, and that’s why the sky is blue.
• Clouds contain a high
concentration of suspended
water droplets or ice crystals,
which scatter light of all
wavelengths equally, so the
cloud looks white.
© 2016 Pearson Education, Ltd.
White Clouds
White clouds
• Description: the clouds appear white or grey.
• Physical process: geometric scattering by rain drops.
• Explanation:
• Visible light at all is scattered in all directions.
• Clouds are optically thick with respect to light scattering
but they do not absorb light well.
• The thicker the cloud is the more light is scattered
backwards and less solar light reaches the bottom of the
cloud. Therefore thicker clouds appear darker.
• At the bottom of very thick clouds the raindrops are even
larger and absorb sun light better. These clouds look even
darker.
• Conclusion: By the appearance of the cloud one can judge
whether it will rain and how strong the storm will be.