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Every
cloud ... (7.0K)
It is said every cloud has a silver lining. The cloud photographed
to the right certainly has a bright one. What light phenomenon
is at work here to produce such a brilliant border? Reflection
and refraction do play a role, but so does diffraction
the bending of light around an edge. In a cloud, the edge that
light bends around is the surface of a water drop. |
Refraction
Just before the light beam exits the water drop, it "clings
" to the droplet's outer surface just for an instance; this
is diffraction. | |
(0.0K) | Sometimes
colors can be seen around the edges of clouds or in thin, wispy
clouds. Clouds displaying colors like this are called iridescent
clouds. Diffraction bends the light, but what causes all the
colors to form? |
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(0.0K) | Cloud
droplets are smaller and more uniform towards the edge of the
cloud, partly due to ongoing evaporation. Inside the cloud,
droplets are more likely to bump and coalesce into different
sized drops. Explain how uniform drops at a clouds edge would
help the formation of iridescent clouds. |
(1.0K) | To
read more about the physics atmospheric
phenomena, go to
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)
/home.rxml. Clicking will launch a new window. |
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