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Rayleigh scattering

The scattering of light by particles and molecules which are much smaller than the wavelength of the light. In the ideal case, the process is one of pure dipole and induced dipole interactions with the electric field of the light wave. The scattering cross section for light of wavelengthλ is proportional to λ −4.
Source:
PAC, 1990, 62, 2167 (Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990)) on page 2209
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IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997). XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
Last update: 2014-02-24; version: 2.3.3.
DOI of this term: https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.R05160.
Original PDF version: http://www.iupac.org/goldbook/R05160.pdf. The PDF version is out of date and is provided for reference purposes only. For some entries, the PDF version may be unavailable.
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