John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

Name: On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour
Author: John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

Summary

“On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour”, published in 1899, is a work by John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh. It explores elements such as particles, vibration and disturbance.

Quotes from On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh)

John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ When light is scattered by particles which are very small compared with any of the wave-lengths, the ratio of the amplitudes of the vibrations of the scattered and incident light varies inversely as the square of the wave-length, and the intensity of the lights themselves as the inverse fourth power. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ About the colour there is no prima facie difficulty; for as soon as the question is raised, it is seen that the standard of linear dimension, with reference to which the particles are called small, is the wave-length of light, and that a given set of particles would (on any conceivable view as to their mode of action) produce a continually increasing disturbance as we pass along the spectrum towards. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ There is unquestionably a formal analogy between the two sets of phenomena extending over a very wide range; but it is another thing to assert that the vibrations of light are really and truly-to-and-fro motions of a medium having mechanical properties (with reference to small vibrations) like those of ordinary solids. The fact that the theory of elastic solids led Green to Fresnel’s formulae for the reflection and refraction of polarized light seems amply sufficient to warrant its employment here, while the question whether the analogy is more than formal is still left open. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ The symmetry also requires that the intensity of the scattered light should vanish for the ray which would be propagated along the axis; for there is nothing to distinguish one direction transverse to the ray from another. We have now got what we want. Suppose, for distinctness of statement, that the primary ray is vertical, and that the plane of vibration is that of the meridian. The intensity of the light scattered by a small particle is constant, and a maximum for rays which lie in the vertical plane running east and west, while there is no scattered ray along the north and south line. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ If the primary ray is unpolarized, the light scattered north and south is entirely due to that component which vibrates east and west, and is therefore perfectly polarized, the direction of its vibration being also east and west. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ In the first place there is a complete symmetry round the direction of the force. The disturbance, consisting of transverse vibrations, is propagated outwards in alt directions from the centre; and in consequence of the symmetry, the direction of vibration in any ray lies in the plane containing the ray and the axis; that is to say, the direction of vibration in the scattered or diffracted ray makes with the direction of vibration in the incident or primary ray the least possible angle. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ Whenever the particles of the foreign matter are sufficiently fine, the light emitted laterally is blue in colour, and, in a direction perpendicular to that of the incident beam, is completely polarized. ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ It is true that the disturbance due to a foreign body of any size is the same as would be caused by forces acting through the space it fills in a direction parallel to that in which the primary light vibrates ”

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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ Whenever the precipitated particles are sufficiently fine, no matter what the substance forming the particles may be, the direction of maximum polarization is at right angles to the illuminating beam, the polarizing angle for matter in this condition being invariably 45°. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (1899)

“ Even with the particles retarding the motion of the aether, the same will be true if, to counterbalance the increased inertia, suitable forces are caused to act on the aether at all points where the inertia is altered. ”

John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

Summary

Quotes from On the Light from the Sky, Its Polarization and Colour (John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh)

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