katinahat

Hello, all. My name is Kat and I just joined the forum. I'm 23 years old, have my bachelor's in astronomy, and I am determined to never stop learning STEM, history, literature, theatre, etc. You name it, I want to learn all about it! I'm known for being a bit tangential in my conversations because I'll get interested in a briefly mentioned subtopic and take off on questions about it. So if I start derailing something, please just let me know and I'll cease and desist I'm a very happy wife and a stay-at-home mother to our 16 month old daughter. I love creating interactive sensory play for her and taking her outside. My husband and I are very outdoorsy and love camping, hiking, climbing, etc. We met in Colorado where I was going to college (CU Boulder), so we bonded together over trips to the mountains We are also very devout Christians (though fairly unconventional ones as far as our political and ideological beliefs go). Anyways, I love to read (a little too much maybe! even with regular trips to the library, I've managed to amass a few bookshelves worth of books), cook, bake, craft/do DIY projects, watch movies, travel, and visit educational attractions (zoo, aquarium, museums, cultural centers, etc.). I also love healthy, respectful debate when it is appropriate. My friends all tease me for being a huge nerd, but I don't imagine that I'll stick out quite as much here It's nice to meet you all and I look forward to talking to you in the future.

So I've been reading up a bit on Raleigh scattering and I'm a little confused. What is the primary method of Raleigh scattering? Is it that the EM waves pass through slightly different densities of air molecules, causing the more susceptible frequencies (blue light, in the case of visible light in our atmosphere) to refract and scatter? Or is it that light waves excite the air molecules, causing them to vibrate at a similar frequency to the wave, and give off energy similar to the scattered light? I'm sorry if I'm completely off base here-- I learned a basic overview of light scattering in college, but didn't go into much depth and I'm curious now. Also, as a side note-- Apparently Mie scattering is not frequency dependent, and it scatters light of all wavelengths. I guess that's why light scattered via that method is primarily "white", yes? Why do larger particles follow Mie scattering while smaller ones follow Raleigh scatter? Is it a firm measurement of what's "small enough" to follow Raleigh scattering, or is it a value that is dependent upon the wavelength of the EM wave? Thank you so much for your time and effort in responding!