Scattering of light is a phenomenon in which light rays deviate from their original path upon striking an obstacle like dust, smoke, or water droplets suspended in the air in colloidal form. The atoms or particles that scatter light are called scatterers. The intensity of scattered light depends on the size of the particles and the wavelength of the light. The probability for scattering will give a high rise for a shorter wavelength, and it is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the radiation wavelength. The scattering of light is completely different from the reflection and refraction of light. In reflection of light, the light goes in a straight line whereas in the scattering of light, the light ray gets scattered in different directions by the medium through which it passes.
Some examples of scattering of light include the blue color of the sky, the color of the rainbow, and the Tyndall effect. When sunlight enters the atmosphere, it gets scattered, and the wavelength of red light is the greatest and thus is scattered least. Violet rays are scattered the most followed by blue, green, yellow, orange, respectively. Our eye is more sensitive to the blue light, thus we see the sky as blue.
The scattering of light is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength of the incident light when the particle (scatterer) is of smaller diameter than the wavelength of light. The longer-wavelength of light is more transmitted while the shorter-wavelength of light is more scattered.
