Rainbow is formed due to:
- Scattering & refraction
Total internal reflection & dispersion
- Reflection only
- Diffraction and dispersion
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Light rays undergo refraction as they enter a water droplet, leading to total internal reflection and subsequent dispersion, which results in the display of colors.
Dispersion of light refers to its separation into different colors, while total internal reflection occurs when a light ray travels from a denser to a rarer medium and strikes the surface at a critical angle, causing it to reflect back into the original medium. This phenomenon is responsible for the appearance of both total internal reflection and the dispersion of colors in a rainbow.
So, the correct option is (B): Total internal reflection & dispersion
Top Questions on Wave optics
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- A double slit set-up was initially placed in a tank filled with water and the interference pattern was obtained using a laser light. When water is replaced by a transparent liquid of refractive index \( n>n_{\text{water}} \), what will be the effect on the following?
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Questions Asked in NEET exam
A sphere of radius R is cut from a larger solid sphere of radius 2R as shown in the figure. The ratio of the moment of inertia of the smaller sphere to that of the rest part of the sphere about the Y-axis is :
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Concepts Used:
Wave Optics
- Wave optics are also known as Physical optics which deal with the study of various phenomena such as polarization, interference, diffraction, and other occurrences where ray approximation of geometric optics cannot be done. Thus, the section of optics that deals with the behavior of light and its wave characteristics is known to be wave optics.
- In wave optics, the approximation is carried out by utilizing ray optics for the estimation of the field on a surface. Further, it includes integrating a ray-estimated field over a mirror, lens, or aperture for the calculation of the transmitted or scattered field.
- Wave optics stands as a witness to a famous standoff between two great scientific communities who devoted their lives to understanding the nature of light. Overall, one supports the particle nature of light; the other supports the wave nature.
- Sir Isaac Newton stood as a pre-eminent figure that supported the voice of particle nature of light, he proposed a corpuscular theory which states that “light consists of extremely light and tiny particles, called corpuscles which travel with very high speeds from the source of light to create a sensation of vision by reflecting on the retina of the eye”.