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Electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength between 380 nm and 760 nm is visible to the human eye. This range is referred to as the visible light spectrum. On the electromagnetic spectrum, the visible light spectrum falls between infrared and ultraviolet waves. The visible effects of diffraction are most pronounced when the length of the opening through which the wave is passing is close to the light’s wavelength.Įxamples of light diffraction can be seen in nature every day! Take, for instance, a cloud’s ‘silver lining’. This visual effect is a result of sunlight bending around the edge of the cloud. The various colors sometimes observed in clouds is another example of light being diffracted, this time by the clouds water droplets. This is called cloud iridescence and is most often observed in cirrocumulus, altocumulus, lenticular, and cirrus clouds. The different colors illustrate how waves of different wavelengths are diffracted differently and ‘scattered’.Īnother great example of light diffraction in nature are the rings of light (corona) observed around the sun and other celestial bodies. This is caused by light wave diffraction by small particles in the atmosphere. Even the sky’s apparent blue color, is an example of light diffraction at work. When sunlight hits the earth’s atmosphere, colors of longer wavelengths simply pass through. However, blue, which has a relatively short wavelength, diffracts and scatters upon collision with the atmosphere’s molecules. You can observe light’s color spectrum by viewing a light source through a diffraction grating in a dark room. A diffraction grating is used to separate light into its constituent colors. It is an arrangement of a large number of equidistant parallel narrow scratches of equal width which are separated by equal opaque sections. Just as Huygen’s principle states, when a light wave comes in contact with a diffraction grating, the light disperses, forming many point sources with their centers at each slit. Constructive and destructive interference between the ‘new’ light waves occur where their valleys and peaks meet or oppose each other, respectively.Ĭonstructive interference occurs in different directions for different colors due to the differing wavelengths of the colors that make up the visible spectrum.