TERMIUM Plus^®

Record 1,  Textual support,  English

Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 CONT

Why is the sky blue? ... Scattering, simply defined, is when light hitting a volume of air is reflected out of the air, as opposed to being absorbed or just passing through. The light bounces off of individual air particles in random directions, scattering, and making that air appear the color of the light being scattered. Preferential light scattering means that some colors of light scatter better, while other colors tend only to pass through. Lord Rayleigh, a 19th century British physicist, first explained preferential light scattering. (Sir Isaac Newton first established the phenomenon's existence.) Common air particle diameters are 1 micron (micrometer), .1 micron, and .01 micron. ... "Rayleigh's Law indicates that the light energy scattered per unit volume of air containing particles smaller than .1 micron is inversely proportional to the 4th power of the wavelength of the illuminating radiation (Schaeffer 155)" ... More simply stated, the amount of light that bounces around in our air increases as the wavelength (which is related to color) of the light decreases.  2, record 1, English, - Rayleigh%20Law

Record 1,  Textual support,  French

Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 CONT

Selon la loi de Rayleigh, la diffusion moléculaire est proportionnelle à l'inverse de la quatrième puissance de la longueur d'onde [...]; la couleur bleue du ciel est due à ce phénomène.  2, record 1, French, - loi%20de%20Rayleigh

Record 1,  Textual support,  Spanish