Rayleighszóródást

Rayleighszóródás, also known as Rayleigh scattering, is a physical phenomenon that describes the elastic scattering of light or other electromagnetic radiation by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the radiation. This type of scattering is responsible for the blue color of the sky and the red appearance of sunsets.

The intensity of Rayleigh scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength of the incident radiation. This means that shorter wavelengths, such as blue light, are scattered much more strongly than longer wavelengths, such as red light. When sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, the nitrogen and oxygen molecules in the air act as scattering centers. Because blue light has a shorter wavelength, it is scattered in all directions more than red light. This scattered blue light reaches our eyes from all parts of the sky, making the sky appear blue.

At sunrise and sunset, sunlight has to travel through a longer path of the atmosphere to reach an observer. During this longer journey, most of the blue light is scattered away, leaving the longer wavelengths of red and orange light to pass through directly. This is why the sun and the sky around it appear reddish during these times. Rayleigh scattering is a fundamental concept in atmospheric physics and optics, with applications in fields such as remote sensing and astronomy.