Rayleigh scattering

American  

noun

Optics.

1. 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.

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Rayleigh scattering British  

noun

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

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Rayleigh scattering Scientific  

1. 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.

2. Compare Raman effect See also Compton effect

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Etymology

Origin of Rayleigh scattering

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

Example Sentences

This is caused by a process known as "Rayleigh scattering", which also makes the sky blue and our sunsets red.

From BBC • Mar. 14, 2025

This is caused by a process known as "Rayleigh scattering" which also makes the sky blue and our sunsets red.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2025

VLT/FORS2 comparative transmission spectroscopy II: confirmation of a cloud deck and Rayleigh scattering in WASP-31b, but no potassium?

From Nature • May 6, 2018

The technique relies on a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering, named after Lord Rayleigh, a 19th-century British physicist, who discovered it and in the process explained why the sky is blue.

From Economist • Jan. 2, 2014

Before we understood Rayleigh scattering, there was no scientifically satisfactory explanation for the sky's blueness.

From Time Magazine Archive