Scattering of Light

To understand Scattering, let's do a Small Experiment

Let's take a Laser, and two glasses. One has Sugar Solution (Sugar + Water), and the other has just water.

While passing laser light through the glass, we observe that we cannot see the Ray of Light in both Sugar Solution and Water

Now, in Water, we add milk and Stir it

We now observe that we can see the Ray of Light in the Milk + Water glass.

This is due to Scattering of Light

The milk particles in the Second Glass are big enough to scatter light, and thus we see the Ray of Light in the 2nd Glass

Now, we can Define Scattering of Light

Definition of Scattering of Light

Scattering of light means throwing of light by particles in all possible directions

Did you notice that this Scattering of light is not done by all particles?

There are Sugar particles in the Sugar Solution, but they are very small... so they don't scatter light.

Whereas, the milk particles in Milk are big enough to Scatter light

Now, lets look at a few applications of Scattering of Light