Rayleigh scattering

Save This Word!

noun Optics.

the scattering of light by particles that are very small in relation to the wavelength of the light, and in which the intensity of the scattered light varies inversely with the fourth power of the wavelength.

QUIZ

GOOSES. GEESES. I WANT THIS QUIZ ON PLURAL NOUNS!

Test how much you really know about regular and irregular plural nouns with this quiz.

Question 1 of 9

Which of the following nouns has an irregular plural form?

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Compare Mie scattering.

Origin of Rayleigh scattering

First recorded in 1935–40; named after J. W. S. Rayleigh

Words nearby Rayleigh scattering

ray flower, ray gun, Rayleigh, Rayleigh disc, Rayleigh disk, Rayleigh scattering, Rayleigh wave, rayless, raylet, Raymond, Raynaud's disease

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use Rayleigh scattering in a sentence

Scattering the truly disadvantaged was much easier when so many were flood-displaced.
Eight Years After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Has Been Resurrected|Jason Berry|August 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Argon, ar′gon, n. a constituent element of our atmosphere, discovered in 1894 by Rayleigh and Ramsay.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)|Various
Scattering wooden villages, each a line of hovels, appeared at long intervals.
Lazarre|Mary Hartwell Catherwood
The news that Rayleigh and Hockley had also been abandoned by the enemy came in shortly afterwards.
The Invasion|William Le Queux

Scattering in various directions we ragged about until tea-time.
From Snotty to Sub|Wolstan Beaumont Charles Weld Forester
George had also the advantage of knowing Lord Rayleigh at Cambridge, and retained his friendship through his life.
Rustic Sounds|Francis Darwin

British Dictionary definitions for Rayleigh scattering

Rayleigh scattering

noun

a process in which electromagnetic radiation is elastically deflected by particles of matter, without a change of frequency but with a phase change

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Rayleigh scattering

Rayleigh scattering

The scattering of electromagnetic radiation by particles with dimensions much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. The frequency of the radiation is not altered by this form of scattering, though the phase of the light is usually changed. Because the amount of Rayleigh scattering is greater at shorter frequencies, more scattering of the sun's rays by the Earth's atmosphere occurs on the blue end of the spectrum than at the red end, thus more blue light reaches the Earth, and the sky generally appears blue. Compare Raman effect. See also Compton effect.