In: Physics
in spectroscopy, explain the difference between transmission of light and scattering of light and give an example of a atechnique that requires the scattering of light to achieve analytical information
Transmission of light : When light of certain frequency falls on an object, it gets absorbed, transmitted or reflected. Normally the incident photons trigger the electrons residing in the lattice sites of the object to vibrate. When the vibrational frequency of the incident light and the vibrating electron is the same absorption of the frequency occurs. In turn, when there is a mismatch between the frequencies either transmission or reflection takes place. When the light wave strikes the objects, the electrons vibrate for a short time, thereafter the energy will be re-emitted as a light wave. When the object is transparent the reemitted light emergence from the opposite side of the object and light is said to be transmitted. If the object is opaque then the phenomenon of reflection of light takes place.
Scattering of light : When light travels from one medium to any other medium, a part of the light is absorbed by particles of the medium and the rest would be scattered in all direction except the incident direction. This phenomenon is termed as a scattering of light. The intensity of scattered light depends on the size of the particles and the wavelength of the light.
Raman Spectroscopy is the analytical technique which involves scattering so that analytical information of a material can be obtained