Physics: Principles and ProblemsChapter 19:
Interference and DiffractionProblem of the Week (1.0K) | (0.0K) | (0.0K) | The
color in iridescent clouds is due to the interference of light.
Interference causes some colors to be reinforced and other colors
to be diminished. To summarize light bends around the
water droplet. White light is composed of all colors and each
color has a different wavelength and therefore is diffracted
by a different amount. The colored bands result as different
colors are removed from the sun's light due to destructive interference,
while other colors are reinforced due to constructive interference.
| | (0.0K) | Iridescent
patterns occur near the edge of clouds because this is where
the cloud is thin. If the cloud gets too thick, then multiple
scattering destroys the color patterns. Also, the more uniform
the drops, the more chance for bands of in-phase/out-of-phase
patterns to be set up that produce the colored bands. Having
uniform drops is similar to the uniformity of diffraction grating
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