On the Transmission of Light through an Atmosphere containing Small Particles in Suspension, and on the Origin of the Blue of the Sky

Abstract

T his subject has been treated in papers published many years ago. I resume it in order to examine more closely than hitherto the attenuation undergone by the primary light on its passage through a medium containing small particles, as dependent upon the number and size of the particles. Closely connected with this is the interesting question whether the light from the sky can be explained by diffraction from the molecules of air themselves, or whether it is necessary to appeal to suspended particles composed of foreign matter, solid or liquid. It will appear, I think, that even in the absence of foreign particles we should still have a blue sky. The calculations of the present paper are not needed in order to explain the general character of the effects produced. In the earliest of those above referred to I illustrated by curves the gradual reddening of the transmitted light by which we see the sun a little before sunset. The same reasoning proved, of course, that the spectrum of even a vertical sun is modified by the atmosphere in the direction of favouring the waves of greater length. For such a purpose as the present it makes little difference whether we speak in terms of the electromagnetic theory or of the elastic solid theory of light; but to facilitate comparison with former papers on the light from the sky, it will be convenient to follow the latter course.