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Presentation on the topic: Optical phenomena

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Optical phenomena are- Optical phenomena in the atmosphere are phenomena caused by the scattering, absorption, refraction and diffraction of light. Light sources can be the Sun, the Moon, or ionized air from the upper layers of the atmosphere. Optical phenomena include: rainbow, halo, mirage, twilight, dawn, aurora. Optical phenomena are closely related to the weather and in some cases can be used to predict it.

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Mirage This optical phenomenon is often observed in the desert - along with distant objects, their imaginary, “apparent” images are visible. Sometimes reflections of objects hidden behind the horizon are visible. The reflection of the sky from the surface layers of air often creates the impression of a water surface. Mirages are explained by the bending of light rays in unequally heated layers of air that have different densities. They occur both when ground air is strongly heated (in deserts, sometimes over highway asphalt) and when it is supercooled.

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Halo Light rings, pillars or spots around the Sun and Moon, “false Suns”. Sometimes these rings are rainbow colored. A halo appears when light is reflected or refracted by ice crystals, forming light cirrus clouds or fog. Most often this happens in the mountains. Like rainbows, halos arise as a result of the refraction of rays in the atmosphere, only halos arise due to ice crystals. Sometimes the reflections of the sun become as bright as the sun itself, this phenomenon is called “sun dogs”.

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Star shower In fact, it is not stars that fall from the sky, but meteorites, which, upon entering the earth's atmosphere, heat up and burn. In this case, a flash of light appears, which is visible at a fairly large distance from the surface of the Earth. Most often, a meteor shower of high intensity (up to a thousand meteors per hour) is called a star or meteor shower. A meteor shower consists of meteors that burn up in the atmosphere and does not reach the ground, while a meteor shower consists of meteorites that fall to the ground.

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Gloria If you light a fire in the mountains at night under low clouds, your shadow will appear on the clouds and you will have a luminous halo around your head. This phenomenon is called Gloria. Gloria is an optical phenomenon that is observed on clouds located directly in front of or below the observer, at a point directly opposite the light source. In China, Gloria is called "Buddha's light." A colored halo always surrounds the observer's shadow.

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Belt of Venus At dusk, shortly before sunrise or just after sunset, the sky above the horizon is partly colorless and partly pinkish. This phenomenon is called the belt of Venus. The colorless stripe between the already darkened sky and the blue sky can be seen everywhere, even to the side opposite the Sun. The phenomenon of the belt of Venus is explained by the reflection in the atmosphere of the light of the setting (or rising) Sun, which appears reddened.

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Green ray Green ray is a flash of emerald green sunlight at the moment when the last ray of the Sun disappears behind the horizon. The red component of sunlight disappears first, all the others follow in order, and the last one remains is emerald green. This phenomenon occurs only when only the very edge of the solar disk remains above the horizon, otherwise a mixture of colors occurs. A green ray appears for some moments before the sun disappears below the horizon, or just before dawn. It appears as a small flash of green color and is caused by the refraction of light in the atmosphere.

Optical phenomena in nature: reflection, attenuation, total internal reflection, rainbow, mirage.

Russian State Agrarian University Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazeva

Topic: Optical phenomena in nature

Performed

Bakhtina Tatyana Igorevna

Teacher:

Momdzhi Sergei Georgievich

Moscow, 2014

1. Types of optical phenomena

3. Total internal reflection

Conclusion

1. Types of optical phenomena

The optical phenomenon of every visible event is the result of the interaction of light and the material media of the physical and biological. A green beam of light is an example of an optical phenomenon.

Common optical phenomena often occur due to the interaction of light from the sun or moon with the atmosphere, clouds, water, dust, and other particles. Some of them, like a green beam of light, are such a rare phenomenon that they are sometimes considered mythical.

Optical phenomena include those arising from the optical properties of the atmosphere, the rest of nature (other phenomena); from objects, whether natural or human in nature (optical effects), where our eyes have an entoptic nature of phenomena.

There are many phenomena that arise as a result of either the quantum or wave nature of light. Some of them are quite subtle and observable only through precise measurements using scientific instruments.

In my work, I want to consider and talk about optical phenomena associated with mirrors (reflection, attenuation) and atmospheric phenomena (mirage, rainbow, auroras), which we often encounter in everyday life.

2. Mirror optical phenomena

My light, mirror, tell me...

If we take a simple and precise definition, then a Mirror is a smooth surface designed to reflect light (or other radiation). The most famous example is a plane mirror.

The modern history of mirrors dates back to the 13th century, or more precisely, from 1240, when Europe learned to blow glass vessels. The invention of the true glass mirror dates back to 1279, when the Franciscan John Peckham described a method of coating glass with a thin layer of tin.

In addition to mirrors invented and created by man, the list of reflective surfaces is large and extensive: the surface of a reservoir, sometimes ice, sometimes polished metal, just glass, if you look at it from a certain angle, but, nevertheless, it is a man-made mirror that can be called practically ideal reflective surface.

The principle of the path of rays reflected from a mirror is simple if we apply the laws of geometric optics, without taking into account the wave nature of light. A ray of light falls on a mirror surface (we are considering a completely opaque mirror) at an angle alpha to the normal (perpendicular) drawn to the point of incidence of the ray on the mirror. The angle of the reflected beam will be equal to the same value - alpha. A ray incident on a mirror at right angles to the plane of the mirror will be reflected back at itself.

For the simplest - flat - mirror, the image will be located behind the mirror symmetrically to the object relative to the plane of the mirror; it will be virtual, straight and the same size as the object itself.

The fact that the landscape reflected in still water does not differ from the real one, but is only turned upside down, is far from true. If a person looks late in the evening at how lamps are reflected in the water or how the shore descending to the water is reflected, then the reflection will seem shortened to him and will completely “disappear” if the observer is high above the surface of the water. Also, you can never see the reflection of the top of a stone, part of which is immersed in water. The landscape appears to the observer as if it were viewed from a point located as much below the surface of the water as the observer's eye is above the surface. The difference between the landscape and its image decreases as the eye approaches the surface of the water, and also as the object moves away. People often think that the reflection of bushes and trees in a pond has brighter colors and richer tones. This feature can also be noticed by observing the reflection of objects in a mirror. Here psychological perception plays a greater role than the physical side of the phenomenon. The frame of the mirror and the banks of the pond limit a small area of ​​the landscape, protecting a person’s lateral vision from excess scattered light coming from the entire sky and blinding the observer, that is, he looks at a small area of ​​the landscape as if through a dark narrow pipe. Reducing the brightness of reflected light compared to direct light makes it easier for people to observe the sky, clouds and other brightly lit objects that, when viewed directly, are too bright for the eye.

3. Total internal reflection of light

A beautiful sight is the fountain, whose ejected jets are illuminated from within. This can be depicted under normal conditions by performing the following experiment. In a tall tin can, at a height of 5 cm from the bottom, you need to drill a round hole with a diameter of 5-6 mm. The light bulb with the socket must be carefully wrapped in cellophane paper and placed opposite the hole. You need to pour water into the jar. By opening the hole, we get a jet that will be illuminated from the inside. In a dark room it glows brightly and looks very impressive. The stream can be given any color by placing colored glass in the path of the light rays. If you put your finger in the path of the stream, the water splashes and these droplets glow brightly. The explanation for this phenomenon is quite simple. A ray of light passes along a stream of water and hits a curved surface at an angle greater than the limiting one, experiences total internal reflection, and then again hits the opposite side of the stream at an angle again greater than the limiting one. So the beam passes along the jet, bending along with it. But if the light were completely reflected inside the jet, then it would not be visible from the outside. Part of the light is scattered by water, air bubbles and various impurities present in it, as well as due to the uneven surface of the jet, so it is visible from the outside.

I will give here a physical explanation for this phenomenon. Let the absolute refractive index of the first medium be greater than the absolute refractive index of the second medium n1 > n2, that is, the first medium is optically denser. Here the absolute indicators of the media are respectively equal:

Then, if you direct a beam of light from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense medium, then as the angle of incidence increases, the refracted ray will approach the interface between the two media, then go along the interface, and with a further increase in the angle of incidence, the refracted ray will disappear, i.e. .e. the incident beam will be completely reflected by the interface between the two media.

The limiting angle (alpha zero) is the angle of incidence, which corresponds to the angle of refraction of 90 degrees. For water, the limit angle is 49 degrees. For glass - 42 degrees. Manifestations in nature: - air bubbles on underwater plants seem mirror-like - dew drops flash with multi-colored lights - the “play” of diamonds in the rays of light - the surface of the water in a glass will shine when viewed from below through the wall of the glass.

4. Atmospheric optical phenomena

A mirage is an optical phenomenon in the atmosphere: the reflection of light by a boundary between layers of air that are sharply different in density. For an observer, such a reflection means that, together with a distant object (or part of the sky), its virtual image, displaced relative to it, is visible.

That is, a mirage is nothing more than a play of light rays. The fact is that in the desert the earth warms up very much. But at the same time, the air temperature above the ground at different distances from it varies greatly. For example, the temperature of the air layer ten centimeters above ground level is 30-50 degrees less than the surface temperature.

All laws of physics say: light propagates in a homogeneous medium in a straight line. However, under such extreme conditions, the law does not apply. What's going on? At such temperature differences, rays begin to be refracted, and at the ground itself they generally begin to be reflected, thereby creating illusions that we are accustomed to calling mirages. That is, the air near the surface becomes a mirror.

Although mirages are usually associated with deserts, they can often be observed above the water surface, in the mountains, and sometimes even in major cities. In other words, wherever sudden temperature changes occur, these fabulous pictures can be observed.

This phenomenon is quite common. For example, in the largest desert on our planet, about 160 thousand mirages are observed annually.

It is very interesting that although mirages are considered children of deserts, Alaska has long been recognized as the undisputed leader in their occurrence. The colder it is, the clearer and more beautiful the observed mirage.

No matter how common this phenomenon is, it is very difficult to study. Why? Yes, everything is very simple. No one knows where and when he will appear, what he will be like and how long he will live.

After many different records about mirages appeared, naturally, they had to be classified. It turned out that, despite all their diversity, it was possible to identify only six types of mirages: lower (lake), upper (appearing in the sky), side, “Fata Morgana”, ghost mirages and werewolf mirages.

A more complex type of mirage is called Fata Morgana. No explanation has yet been found for it.

Lower (lake) mirage.

These are the most common mirages. They got their name because of the places where they originated. They are observed on the surface of the earth and water.

Superior mirages (distance vision mirages).

This type of mirage is as simple in origin as the previous type. However, such mirages are much more diverse and beautiful. They appear in the air. The most fascinating of them are the famous ghost towns. It is very interesting that they usually represent images of objects - cities, mountains, islands - that are located many thousands of kilometers away.

Side mirages

They appear near vertical surfaces that are strongly heated by the sun. These can be rocky shores of the sea or lake, when the shore is already illuminated by the Sun, but the surface of the water and the air above it are still cold. This type of mirage is a very common occurrence in Lake Geneva.

Fata Morgana

Fata Morgana is the most complex type of mirage. It is a combination of several forms of mirages. At the same time, the objects that the mirage depicts are magnified many times over and are quite distorted. Interestingly, this type of mirage got its name from Morgana, the sister of the famous Arthur. She allegedly took offense at Lancelot for rejecting her. To spite him, she settled in the underwater world and began to take revenge on all men, deceiving them with ghostly visions

Fata Morganas include numerous “ flying dutchmen", which are still seen by sailors. They usually show ships that are hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from observers.

Perhaps there is nothing more to say about the types of mirages.

I would like to add that although this is an extremely beautiful and mysterious sight, it is also very dangerous. I kill mirages and drive my victims crazy. This is especially true for desert mirages. And the explanation of this phenomenon does not make the fate of travelers easier.

However, people are trying to fight this. They create special guides that indicate the places where mirages most often appear, and sometimes their forms.

By the way, mirages are obtained in laboratory conditions.

For example, a simple experiment published in the book by V.V. Mayra “Total reflection of light in simple experiments” (Moscow, 1986), given here detailed description obtaining mirage models in a variety of environments. The easiest way to observe a mirage is in water (Fig. 2). Attach a dark, preferably black, coffee tin to the bottom of a white-bottomed vessel. Looking down, almost vertically, along its wall, quickly pour hot water into the jar. The surface of the jar will immediately become shiny. Why? The fact is that the refractive index of water increases with temperature. The water temperature near the hot surface of the jar is much higher than at a distance. So the beam of light is bent in the same way as with mirages in the desert or on hot asphalt. The jar appears shiny to us due to the complete reflection of light.

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An atmospheric optical and meteorological phenomenon observed when the Sun (sometimes the Moon) illuminates many water droplets (rain or fog). A rainbow looks like a multi-colored arc or circle made up of the colors of the spectrum (from the outer edge: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). These are the seven colors that are customarily identified in the rainbow in Russian culture, but it should be borne in mind that in fact the spectrum is continuous, and its colors smoothly transition into each other through many intermediate shades.

The center of the circle described by a rainbow lies on a straight line passing through the observer and the Sun, moreover, when observing a rainbow (unlike a halo), the Sun is always behind the observer, and it is impossible to simultaneously see the Sun and the rainbow without the use of optical devices. For an observer on the ground, a rainbow usually looks like an arc, part of a circle, and the higher the observation point, the more complete it is (from a mountain or an airplane you can see a full circle). When the Sun rises above 42 degrees above the horizon, a rainbow is not visible from the Earth's surface.

Rainbows occur when sunlight is refracted and reflected by droplets of water (rain or fog) floating in the atmosphere. These droplets bend light of different colors differently (the refractive index of water for longer wavelength (red) light is less than for short wavelength (violet), so red light is deflected weakest by 137°30", and violet light most strongly by 139°20"). As a result White light decomposes into a spectrum (light dispersion occurs). An observer who stands with his back to the light source sees a multi-colored glow that emanates from space along concentric circles (arcs).

Most often, a primary rainbow is observed, in which the light undergoes one internal reflection. The path of the rays is shown in the figure at the top right. In the primary rainbow, the red color is outside the arc, its angular radius is 40-42°.

Sometimes you can see another, less bright rainbow around the first one. This is a secondary rainbow, which is formed by light reflected twice in drops. In a secondary rainbow, the order of colors is “inverted” - violet is on the outside and red is on the inside. The angular radius of the secondary rainbow is 50-53°. The sky between two rainbows is usually noticeably darker, an area called Alexander's Strip.

The appearance of a third-order rainbow in natural conditions is extremely rare. It is believed that over the past 250 years there have been only five scientific reports of the observation of this phenomenon. All the more surprising is the appearance in 2011 of a message that it was possible not only to observe a fourth-order rainbow, but also to register it in a photograph. In laboratory conditions, it is possible to obtain rainbows of much higher orders. Thus, in an article published in 1998, it was stated that the authors, using laser radiation, managed to obtain a rainbow of the two hundredth order.

The light from a primary rainbow is 96% polarized along the arc direction. The light from the secondary rainbow is 90% polarized.

On a bright moonlit night, you can also see a rainbow from the Moon. Since the human eye's low-light receptors - the "rods" - do not perceive color, a lunar rainbow appears whitish; The brighter the light, the more “colorful” the rainbow (color receptors - “cones”) are included in its perception.

Under certain circumstances, you can see a double, inverted, or even ring rainbow. In fact, these are phenomena of another process - the refraction of light in ice crystals scattered in the atmosphere, and belong to the halo. For an inverted rainbow (near-zenith arc, zenith arc - one of the types of halo) to appear in the sky, specific weather conditions characteristic of the North and South Poles are required. An inverted rainbow is formed due to the refraction of light passing through the ice of a thin curtain of clouds at an altitude of 7 - 8 thousand meters. The colors in such a rainbow are also located in reverse: purple is at the top, and red is at the bottom.

Polar Lights

Aurora (northern lights) is the glow (luminescence) of the upper layers of the atmospheres of planets with a magnetosphere due to their interaction with charged particles of the solar wind.

In a very limited area of ​​the upper atmosphere, auroras can be caused by low-energy charged solar wind particles entering the polar ionosphere through the north and south polar cusps. In the northern hemisphere, caspen auroras can be observed over Spitsbergen during the afternoon hours.

When energetic particles of the plasma layer collide with the upper atmosphere, the atoms and molecules of gases included in its composition are excited. The radiation of excited atoms is in the visible range and is observed as the aurora. The spectra of auroras depend on the composition of the planets' atmospheres: for example, if for Earth the brightest are the emission lines of excited oxygen and nitrogen in the visible range, then for Jupiter - the emission lines of hydrogen in the ultraviolet.

Since ionization by charged particles occurs most effectively at the end of the particle’s path and the density of the atmosphere decreases with increasing altitude in accordance with the barometric formula, the height of the appearance of auroras depends quite strongly on the parameters of the planet’s atmosphere, for example, for the Earth with its rather complex atmospheric composition, the red glow of oxygen is observed at altitudes of 200-400 km, and the combined glow of nitrogen and oxygen is at an altitude of ~110 km. In addition, these factors determine the shape of the auroras - blurry upper and rather sharp lower boundaries.

Auroras are observed mainly at high latitudes of both hemispheres in oval zones-belts surrounding the Earth's magnetic poles - auroral ovals. The diameter of the auroral ovals is ~ 3000 km during a quiet Sun; on the day side, the zone boundary is 10--16° from the magnetic pole, on the night side - 20--23°. Since the Earth’s magnetic poles are separated from the geographic ones by ~12°, auroras are observed at latitudes of 67--70°, however, during times of solar activity, the auroral oval expands and auroras can be observed at lower latitudes - 20--25° south or north of the boundaries of their usual manifestation. For example, on Stewart Island, which lies only at the 47° parallel, auroras occur regularly. The Maori even called it “Burning Ones”.

In the spectrum of the Earth's auroras, the most intense radiation is from the main components of the atmosphere - nitrogen and oxygen, while their emission lines are observed in both the atomic and molecular (neutral molecules and molecular ions) states. The most intense are the emission lines of atomic oxygen and ionized nitrogen molecules.

The glow of oxygen is due to the emission of excited atoms in metastable states with wavelengths of 557.7 nm (green line, lifetime 0.74 sec.) and a doublet of 630 and 636.4 nm (red region, lifetime 110 sec). As a result, the red doublet is emitted at altitudes of 150-400 km, where, due to the high rarefaction of the atmosphere, the rate of quenching of excited states during collisions is low. Ionized nitrogen molecules emit at 391.4 nm (near ultraviolet) 427.8 nm (violet) and 522.8 nm (green). However, each phenomenon has its own unique range, due to the variability of the chemical composition of the atmosphere and weather factors.

The spectrum of auroras changes with altitude and, depending on the emission lines predominant in the aurora spectrum, auroras are divided into two types: high-altitude auroras of type A with a predominance of atomic lines and auroras of type B at relatively low altitudes (80-90 km) with a predominance of molecular lines in the spectrum due to quenching from collisions of atomic excited states in a relatively dense atmosphere at these altitudes.

Auroras occur noticeably more often in spring and autumn than in winter and summer. The peak frequency occurs in the periods closest to spring and autumn equinox. During the aurora, a huge amount of energy is released in a short time. Thus, during one of the disturbances recorded in 2007, 5·1014 joules were released, approximately the same as during an earthquake of magnitude 5.5.

When observed from the surface of the Earth, the aurora appears as a general, rapidly changing glow of the sky or moving rays, stripes, coronas, or “curtains.” The duration of aurora ranges from tens of minutes to several days.

It was believed that the auroras in the northern and southern hemisphere are symmetrical. However, the simultaneous observation of the aurora in May 2001 from space from the north and south poles showed that the northern and southern lights are significantly different from each other.

optical light quantum rainbow

Conclusion

Natural optical phenomena are very beautiful and varied. In ancient times, when people did not understand their nature, they gave them mystical, magical and religious meanings, feared and feared them. But now, when we are even able to produce each of the phenomena with our own hands in laboratory (and sometimes even makeshift) conditions, the primitive horror has gone, and we can happily notice a rainbow flashing in the sky in everyday life, go to the north to admire the aurora and to note with curiosity a mysterious mirage glimpsed in the desert. And the mirrors have become even more significant part our everyday life - both in everyday life (for example, at home, in cars, in video cameras), and in various scientific instruments: spectrophotometers, spectrometers, telescopes, lasers, medical equipment.

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Introduction.

Within the framework of traditional approaches, a number of anomalous optical phenomena in cislunar space have not yet been explained. We will note a couple of the most odious of them - links to evidence about which are given below. Firstly, this is the phenomenon of loss of color: objects are observed not in natural colors, but, practically, in shades of gray. Secondly, this is the phenomenon of backscattering of light: no matter what angle the light hits the scattering surface, most of the reflected light goes in the opposite direction - back to where the light came from.

We believe that the reason for these amazing phenomena is the special organization of lunar gravity - on a different principle than the gravity of the planets. Planetary gravity is caused, in our terminology, by a planetary frequency funnel. In the volume of a free test body, a local section of the frequency slope directly sets the gradient of the own energies of the particles of matter, which generates an unsupported force effect on the body. There are no signs of the presence of a lunar frequency funnel. We have outlined a model for the organization of lunar gravity - through the imposition, on the local region of the earth's frequency slope, of specific vibrations of “inertial space” in the cislunar region. Being in the resulting “unsteady space”, the test body has, in its volume, a gradient of local-absolute velocities - and, therefore, through quadratic-Doppler shifts of quantum energy levels, it also has an energy gradient, i.e., again, it experiences unsupported force impact.

Vibrations of “inertial space” have a dual effect on optical phenomena. Firstly, these vibrations affect molecules, i.e. on emitters and absorbers of light - which is why their emission and absorption spectra change. Secondly, the phase speed of light, as we believe, is tied, in a local-absolute sense, to a local section of “inertial space”, therefore its vibrations affect the process of light propagation.

In this article we will give a refined model of the cislunar “unsteady space” and explain the origin of these anomalous optical phenomena.

Refined model of the cislunar “unsteady space”.

An early model of cislunar "unsteady space" is outlined in. It is appropriate to note: the very first flights of Soviet and American spacecraft to the Moon showed that its gravity acts only in a small circumlunar region, up to approximately 10,000 km from the surface of the Moon - and, thus, does not reach the Earth. Therefore, the Earth does not have a dynamic response to the Moon: contrary to popular belief, the Earth does not apply, in antiphase with the Moon, near their common “center of mass” - and, contrary to another common misconception, lunar gravity has nothing to do with the tides in the oceans.

According to the model, in the region of lunar gravity, harmonic vibrations of “inertial space” are specified, purely by software, in directions along the local lunar verticals. For these radial vibrations, the amplitude values ​​of the velocities and equivalent linear displacements decrease as the distance from the center increases, and at the border of the lunar gravity region they become practically zero. If spherically symmetric gravity is simulated, obeying the inverse square law, then the dependence of the velocity amplitude V vibrations from the length of the radius vector r There is

Where K=4.9× 10 12 m 3 /s 2 - gravitational parameter of the Moon, r max – radius of the boundary of the lunar gravity region. If we substitute in (1) the values ​​of the average radius of the Moon r L = 1738 km, and also r max =11738 km, then for the amplitude of the vibration speed of the “unsteady space” on the surface of the Moon we get V(r L)" 3.10 km/s. If we assume that on the surface of the Moon the amplitude of equivalent linear displacements is d(r A) = 5 µm, then for the vibration frequency, which we assume to be the same throughout the entire region of lunar gravity, we obtain V(r L)/2p d(r L) » 100 MHz. These figures are, of course, approximate.

The key clarification of the cislunar “unsteady space” model is related to the question of the phases of radial vibrations of the “inertial background”. Previously, we believed that the region of lunar gravity is divided into radial sections, in which the phases of radial vibrations are organized “in a checkerboard pattern.” Now, such an organization of the phases of radial vibrations seems to us to be unjustifiably complicated and completely unnecessary. Radial movements of the “inertial space” can occur synchronously throughout the entire region of lunar gravity: “all together from the center - all together towards the center.” With such globally synchronous vibrations, the “unsteady space” will communicate centripetal acceleration free body is no worse than according to the model, and programmatically organizing globally synchronous vibrations is incomparably simpler.

The propagation of light in a vibrating “unsteady space” has fundamental features, since the conditions in which the Quantum Energy Transfer Navigator operates are unusual here. This is a program that individually for each excited atom searches for the recipient atom to which the excitation energy will be transferred. Effects during the propagation of light, including wave phenomena, are determined by the calculation algorithms that the Navigator performs - identifying the recipient atom to which the probability of quantum energy transfer is maximum. These Navigator algorithms are described in. Now it is important for us that the speed of the search waves with which the Navigator information scans space is equal to the speed of light and is tied, in a local-absolute sense, to a local section of “inertial space”. Therefore, vibrations of “inertial space” affect the movement of the Navigator’s search waves. When these vibrations are oriented along the local lunar verticals, the local horizontal light beam will move not in a straight line, but along a sinusoid - with a period determined by the frequency of vibrations. At their frequency of 100 MHz (see above), the period of the sinusoid will be about 3 m. In this case, the vertical angular spread of the directions of beam motion can be estimated through the ratio of the amplitude of the vibration speed to the speed of light - near the surface of the Moon this spread will be approximately one arc second.

Taking into account this vertical scatter in the directions of movement of a light beam passing near the surface of the Moon easily explains, in our opinion, the following optical effects. Firstly, it is impossible " predict the occurrence and duration of lunar occultations of stars with such accuracy as many other celestial phenomena are calculated". Secondly, this is a decrease in the quality of the image of the lunar surface near the edges of the disk (see, for example, photographs in). The “blurring” of the image at the edges of the lunar disk would not be surprising if the Moon had an atmosphere - but it does not. Both of these effects have not found a reasonable explanation within the framework of traditional approaches.

The phenomenon of loss of color in the cislunar “unsteady space”.

As we stated earlier, the process of light propagation is a chain of quantum transfers of excitation energy from atom to atom. Consecutive links in this chain, i.e. pairs of atom-sender and atom-receiver are established, according to certain algorithms, by the Navigator. The distance between the peaks of the Navigator’s search waves is what in optics is called the “radiation” wavelength (we put this word in quotes because the Navigator’s search waves are not of a physical nature, but of a software nature). Under the conditions of ordinary, non-vibrating space, the wavelength is completely determined by the excitation energy of an atom, if this atom is at rest - in a local-absolute sense. If the vector of its locally-absolute velocity is not equal to zero, then the lengths of the search waves coming from it to different directions, have corresponding linear Doppler shifts. We emphasize that during the movement of an excited atom, only search waves are subject to the linear Doppler effect - the energy of the transferred quantum remains unchanged. Thus, a search wave having a certain linear Doppler shift can successfully overcome a narrow-band filter, and an energy quantum can be transferred to an atom located behind this filter, but the energy of this transferred quantum will still be the same excitation energy as in the case of a resting excited atom - when the search wave would not pass through the filter.

Now let's return to the case of “unsteady space”. Its radial vibrations can give linear Doppler shifts in the lengths of the Navigator search waves, having an order of up to V(r L)/ c~ 10 -5. Effects of this order - given that the visible range occupies an octave - could not lead to radical changes in color. But note that the overwhelming majority of the color palette, including on the Moon, is provided by a substance that forms molecular compounds. Could it turn out that “unsteady space” affects the molecular emission-absorption spectra?

As we stated earlier, a chemical bond is a process of cyclic switching of the compositions of proton-electron valence bonds in the atoms being bonded, in which each of the two electrons involved alternately becomes part of one or the other atom. This cyclic process is stabilized by transfers of excitation energy quantum from one atom to another, and back. At thermal equilibrium, the most probable energy of this quantum corresponds to the maximum of the equilibrium spectrum, i.e. equals 5 kT, Where k– Boltzmann constant, T– absolute temperature. As we tried to show in the so-called. vibrational and rotational molecular lines do not correspond to different binding energies of atoms in a molecule: they correspond to one or another resonance in the cyclic process of chemical bonding - with a suitable quantum energy that bound atoms cyclically transfer to each other. A typical feature of molecular absorption spectra are bands of a continuous spectrum - dissociation bands. For most molecules, the lower edge of the first dissociation band is 4-5 eV from the ground state level, i.e. the energies of excitation quanta corresponding to the entire visible range fall in the interval between the ground state and the first dissociation band. Under “normal” conditions, this gap is more or less densely filled with discrete energy levels. A little-known fact is that the corresponding molecular lines, unlike atomic lines, are not characteristic - their positions “float” depending on temperature and pressure. Vibrations of “unsteady space,” in our opinion, should lead to a strong broadening of molecular lines; Let's explain this.

Let us recall that, under conditions of “ordinary” gravity, a change in the local-absolute speed of a free body uniquely corresponds to a change in the gravitational potential. In the cislunar “unsteady space” the situation is different: free bodies there experience harmonic changes in local-absolute speed (measured in the geocentric coordinate system), being practically in the same gravitational potential (terrestrial region of gravity). We believe that this anomalous, from the point of view of energy transformations, situation is resolved as follows. The buffer for the periodic component of the kinetic energy of a molecule is its excitation energy - i.e. the same quantum that bonded atoms transmit to each other. Then, for molecules of light elements with single bonds, the amplitude value of kinetic energy on the surface of the Moon ( V(r L)" 3 km/s) should correspond to an amplitude value of the excitation energy of ~ 1 eV per bond. Because of this periodic component of the excitation energy, the "vibrational" and "rotational" molecular lines should experience such significant broadenings that the interval from the ground state to the first dissociation band should be occupied by a continuous spectrum . This is true: " The lunar spectrum is almost devoid of bands that could provide information about the composition of the Moon» .

Let us clarify why, with continuous molecular spectra, the phenomenon of color loss should occur. It is known that in the retina of the human eye there are three types of light-sensitive cells responsible for color perception - which differ in the positions of the absorption band maxima: in the red-orange, green and blue-violet regions. The color sensation is not determined by the energy of monochromatic light quanta - it is determined by the ratio of the numbers of “triggerings” of the three types of cells within a certain “color reaction time.” If, under the conditions of “unsteady space,” the molecular absorption lines spread over the entire visible range, then for each of the three types of cells the probability of “working” on a quantum from any region of the visible range becomes equal.

It immediately follows that all objects on the Moon should be seen with a loss of color - practically, in shades of the gray scale. Loss of color should occur not only during live visual observation on the Moon, but also when photographing there on color film, and even through light filters. Really, " color filters on board...["Surveyers"] were used to produce color photographs of the lunar landscape... The lack of color in any part of these images is surprising, especially when compared with the variety of colors of typical terrestrial desert or mountain landscapes". Maybe the author is confusing something? Not at all, the official NASA report on Surveyor 1 states the same thing. The transmission curves of the three filters were close to the standard ones - we reproduce the corresponding diagram from Fig.1. What are

were there any results? In the section “Photometry and colorimetry”, only three phrases are devoted to colorimetry itself. Namely: " Pre-processing of colorimetric measurements based on photographic film data shows that only minor color differences may exist among lunar surface materials. The lack of rich colors in surface lunar materials is striking given the observed differences in albedo. Everywhere the color of the lunar surface is dark gray"(our translation). However, the amazement of NASA specialists did not last long. The author already writes: “ The surveyor had a sharper and clearer gaze. And, for the first time, he saw in color. Three separate photographs taken through orange, green and blue filters, when combined, gave a completely natural color reproduction. As the scientists expected, this color turned out to be nothing other than gray - a uniform, neutral gray"(our translation). We are reproducing one of these gray photo mosaics from Surveyor-1 on Fig.2.

It may be suspected that only lunar materials have a natural gray color, and terrestrial objects delivered to the Moon appear there in the same colors as on Earth. Not at all, we are reproducing a fragment of another photograph with “natural color reproduction” - see. Fig.3. This is a very remarkable document. Against the background of the “pancake” of the support “foot” of the device, a section of the disk with sector markings is visible on the right side of the image. This is just a disk for calibrating color rendition: on Earth, its four sectors were white,

Fig.3.

red, green and blue colors. But, instead of them, we see only shades of the gray scale.

Let us add that the loss of color occurs even when observing the Moon from outside its gravitational region. True, in this case gray flowers a shade of brown is mixed in: “ In a telescope, the Moon has a uniform brownish-gray hue and is almost devoid of color differences.". Attempts were made to obtain color photographs of the Moon by photographing from outside its gravitational region through light filters, followed by combining the images. This technique actually produces magnificent color pictures - but, taking into account the above, it is naive to believe that the colors on them demonstrate the real color scheme of the Moon.

It should be clarified that the phenomenon of color loss in cislunar space is in no way refuted by photo and video shooting with digital equipment - which allows you to “make” any desired colors “out of nothing.” With traditional photography, i.e. With natural color rendering, the phenomenon of loss of color in the lunar space is an indisputable fact. Moreover, according to NASA officials, experts even expected the absence of a rich range of colors on the Moon in advance. Let's remember this!

The phenomenon of backscattering of light in the cislunar “unsteady space”.

Albedo of the lunar surface, i.e. its ability to reflect sunlight is low: on average, it is 7%. And for this small amount of reflected light, the phenomenon of backscattering occurs. Namely: at whatever angle the light falls on the scattering surface - up to an almost grazing incidence! – most of the reflected light goes to where the light came from.

Evidence of this amazing phenomenon for the earthly observer is that good known fact, What " The brightness of all areas of the lunar disk reaches a sharp maximum during the full moon, when the light source is exactly behind the observer". The integral curve of the Moon's brightness as a function of the phase angle is shown in Fig.4(zero phase corresponds to the full moon).

Fig.4

The phenomenon of backscattering cannot be explained by ordinary scattering from rough surfaces of the Moon. A rough surface would scatter light according to Lambert's law, and then on a full moon there would be darkening towards the edges of the lunar disk - which is not the case. The brightness during the full moon increases anomalously for each region of the lunar disk, " regardless of its position on the lunar sphere, surface inclination and morphological type". Due to the lack of darkening towards the edges, the Moon appears “flat as a pancake” during a full moon. The phenomenon of backscattering of light occurs not only for the side of the Moon visible from the Earth, but also for the opposite side, as evidenced by photographs of the latter taken using spacecraft. The indicatrices of backscattering of light by the Moon are given, for example, in.

Sometimes the phenomenon of backscattering is confused with the so-called. oppositional effect, which is simply that “ the rate of increase in brightness is especially high at small phase angles" - as this well illustrates Fig.4. The opposition effect characterizes the rate of change in brightness - and not the change in brightness itself - as the phase angle changes. The oppositional effect only emphasizes the highly targeted effect of the backscattering effect - due to which, under abnormally bright moonlight on a full moon, you can read a book.

It was believed that the phenomenon of backscattering was due to some unusual properties of the lunar soil - and this despite the fact that the phenomenon manifests itself equally for all areas of the lunar disk, although the morphologies of the lunar seas and continents differ. Many attempts have been made to find the mineral or material that gives the lunar scattering law. A variety of samples of terrestrial and cosmic origin were studied " in various forms: solid, sprayed, molten and re-solidified, irradiated with ultraviolet light, x-rays and protons...» None scattered light back as strongly as the Moon. Finally, it was discovered that a scattering law similar to the lunar one is produced by finely dispersed structures with extremely developed porosity. But one could hardly expect that the existence of such “fluff” would be supported under real conditions on the lunar surface. Not to mention frequent weak “moonquakes”, electrostatic erosion and “sliding” of surface material play a significant role there. Studies of lunar soil - both “on the ground”, with the help of “Surveyers”, and in terrestrial laboratories - have shown that there are no “fluffy structures” in it. Soil of the Moon " fine-grained, weakly cohesive with an admixture of gravel and small stones". Lunar " Regolith easily sticks together into separate loose lumps and is easily shaped. Despite noticeable adhesiveness, it has an unstable, easily broken structure". To top off these disconcerting discoveries, lunar samples in laboratories on Earth did not at all demonstrate the lunar law of scattering. Research into the phenomenon has reached a dead end.

Meanwhile, this phenomenon finds a simple natural explanation - as a result of vibrations of “unsteady space”. Let us remember that, under “normal” conditions, mirror reflection is explained as follows. A section of a flat wave front falls on a flat surface - whose points, to which this front has reached, immediately become sources of secondary spherical waves, according to the Huygens-Fresnel principle. The envelope of secondary spherical wave fronts is a section of a flat front - which is specularly reflected. Note that this classical explanation implies the interference of secondary wave fronts - and for this it is necessary that the coherence area be larger than the section of the reflecting surface on which the initial section of the front falls. But in the “unsteady space”, taking into account the above, the concept of “coherence” loses all meaning. For each Navigator channel that calculates the address of transfer of one quantum, even with the characteristic size of the “coherence area” being smaller than the wavelength, there will be no set of secondary spherical waves emanating from various points of the scattering surface - secondary spherical waves will emanate from one points of this surface. According to the logic of the Navigator's algorithms, calculations continue only for the most probable search directions for the destination atom - and these are those on which there are overlaps of different peaks of search waves (of the same Navigator channel). In the case under consideration, secondary spherical waves emanating from one point will be able to superimpose only on the peaks of the incident wave - giving bursts of probabilities on the line along which this incident wave travels. Thus, if the quantum of light is not absorbed by the surface, and the Navigator is forced to continue searching for the recipient to transfer it, then the “reflection” from the surface will most likely be the opposite - regardless of the angle of incidence.

What are the physical consequences of the backscattering phenomenon? If the Moon reflects only about 7% of the incident sunlight, and if almost all of this reflected light goes in the direction from which it came, then an observer on the Moon will in no way see the flooded sunlight landscapes. For the observer, even on the side of the Moon illuminated by the Sun, twilight reigns - as is demonstrated, for example, by the very first photographic panoramas taken on the surface of the Moon by Soviet spacecraft, starting with Luna-9 (see, for example,), as well as large archive television images transmitted by Lunokhod 1. An observer on the Moon will be able to see brightly illuminated either those objects that are located near an imaginary straight line drawn from the Sun through his head, or those that he illuminates himself, holding the light source close to his eyes. In addition to the twilight that reigns even on the sunlit side of the Moon, due to the phenomenon of backscattering, completely black shadows are observed there - and not gray, as on Earth, since on the Moon the shadow areas are not illuminated by scattered light either from the illuminated areas or from the atmosphere, which not on the moon. Fig.5 reproduces one of the panoramas taken by Lunokhod-1 - immediately rushes into

Fig.5

the eyes are characteristically black on the anti-solar side - on the platform from which Lunokhod-1 slid down, as well as on the unevenness of the lunar surface. Fig.5 conveys well the typical signs of real lunar illumination.

A little discussion.

Above, we tried to explain the phenomena of color loss and backscattering of light that take place in cislunar space. Perhaps someone will be able to explain these phenomena better than we did, but the very presence of these phenomena is an indisputable scientific fact - which is confirmed even by the first NASA reports on the lunar program.

Taking into account the fact of the presence of these phenomena provides new, damning arguments in support of those who consider film and photographic materials that allegedly indicate the presence of American astronauts on the surface of the Moon to be fakes. After all, we provide the keys for conducting the simplest and merciless independent examination. If we are shown, against the background of lunar landscapes flooded with sunlight (!), astronauts on whose spacesuits there are no black shadows on the anti-solar side, or a well-lit figure of an astronaut in the shadow “lunar module”, or color (!) footage with a colorful rendering of the colors of the American flag - then this is all irrefutable evidence screaming about falsification. In fact, we are not aware of a single film or photo document depicting astronauts on the Moon under real lunar lighting and with a real lunar color “palette”.

The physical conditions on the Moon are too abnormal - and it cannot be ruled out that the cislunar space is destructive for terrestrial organisms. Today we know the only model that explains the short-term effect of lunar gravity, and at the same time the origin of accompanying anomalous optical phenomena - this is our “unsteady space” model. And if this model is correct, then the vibrations of “unsteady space”, below a certain height above the surface of the Moon, are quite capable of breaking weak bonds in protein molecules - with the destruction of their tertiary and, possibly, secondary structures. As far as we know, turtles returned alive from cislunar space on board the Soviet Zond-5 spacecraft, which flew around the Moon with a minimum distance from its surface of about 2000 km. It is possible that, with the passage of the device closer to the Moon, the animals would have died as a result of the denaturation of proteins in their bodies. If from cosmic radiation It is very difficult to protect yourself, but it is still possible - there is no physical protection from the vibrations of the “unsteady space”.

The author thanks Ivan, the author of the sitehttp://ivanik3.narod.ru, for kind assistance in accessing primary sources, as well as O.Yu. Pivovar for useful discussion.

1. A.A.Grishaev. Interplanetary flights and the concept of local-absolute velocities. – Available on this website.

2. A.A.Grishaev. “Unsteady space” generating the Moon’s own gravity. – Available on this website.

3. A.A.Grishaev. Michelson-Morley experiment: local-absolute velocity detection? – Available on this website.P.G.Kulikovsky. Amateur Astronomer's Handbook. “Mr. Publishing house of technical and theoretical literature", M., 1953.

9. Z. Kopal. Moon. Our closest celestial neighbor. "Publishing House of Foreign Literature", M., 1963.

10. A.A.Grishaev. A New Look on chemical bonding and the paradoxes of molecular spectra. – Available on this website.

11. T. Cottrell. Strength of chemical bonds. "Publishing House of Foreign Literature", M., 1956.

12. O. W. Richardson. Molecular Hydrogen and its Spectrum. 1934.

13. R. Pearce, A. Gaydon. Identification of molecular spectra. "Publishing House of Foreign Literature", M., 1949.

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21. Web resource

Farajova Leila

We often observe inexplicable phenomena in the sky. This work reveals the essence of the phenomena occurring in the earth’s atmosphere.

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Municipal educational institution "Peschanovskaya secondary school"

VI regional scientific and practical conference

Optical phenomena in the atmosphere

6th grade Municipal educational institution "Peschanovskaya secondary school"

Supervisor:

Makovchuk Tatyana Gennadievna

Physics teacher

S. Peschanoye

2010

Introduction 3

Earth's atmosphere as an optical system 4

Types of optical phenomena 5

Conclusion 12

Literature 13

Appendix 14

Introduction

The purpose of this work is to consider optical atmospheric phenomena and their physical nature. The most accessible and at the same time the most colorful optical phenomena are atmospheric ones. Enormous in scale, they are the product of the interaction of light and the earth's atmosphere.

On December 31, New Year's Eve, an unusual phenomenon could be observed in the southern part of the sky, not high above the horizon. There is a disk of the sun in the center and two more on the sides, and above them there is a rainbow glow. It was a very beautiful and mesmerizing sight. I immediately became interested in what it is, how it is formed, why and what other phenomena could occur in the atmosphere? This unusual atmospheric phenomenon formed the basis of my work.

The Earth's atmosphere as an optical system

Our planet is surrounded by a gaseous shell, which we call the atmosphere. Having its greatest density near the earth's surface and gradually thinning out as it rises, it reaches a thickness of more than a hundred kilometers. And this is not a frozen gaseous medium with homogeneous physical data. On the contrary, the Earth's atmosphere is in constant motion. Under the influence of various factors, its layers mix, change density, temperature, transparency, and move over long distances at different speeds.

For rays of light coming from the Sun or other celestial bodies, the earth’s atmosphere is a kind of optical system with constantly changing parameters. Finding itself on their path, it reflects part of the light, scatters it, passes it through the entire thickness of the atmosphere, providing illumination of the earth's surface, under certain conditions, decomposes it into components and bends the course of rays, thereby causing various atmospheric phenomena. The most unusual colorful ones are sunsets, rainbows, northern lights, mirages, solar and lunar haloes and much more.

Types of optical phenomena

There are many types of optical phenomena. Let's look at some of them.

Halo

(from Greekχαλοσ - “circle”, “disk”; Also aura, halo, halo) is a phenomenon of refraction and reflection of light in ice crystals of upper clouds. They are light or rainbow circles around the Sun or Moon, separated from the luminary by a dark gap. Halos are often observed at the front of cyclones and can therefore serve as a sign of their approach. Sometimes you can see lunar halos.

Appearing in the air when water droplets freeze, ice crystals usually take one of three six-sided shapes correct prisms(Fig. 1 A): prisms in which the length is very large compared to their cross-section; These are the well-known ice needles that float in masses in the lowest layers of the atmosphere on frosty winter days.

A B C.

(Fig.1)

Falling freely in the air, such needles are positioned vertically with their long axis. The planes of these crystals, which whirl and gradually fall to the ground, are oriented parallel to the surface most of the time. At sunrise or sunset, the observer's line of sight can pass through this very plane, and each crystal can act as a miniature lens refracting sunlight.

In other types of prisms, the height is very small compared to the cross-section; then six-sided flat tablets are obtained (Fig. 1B.). Sometimes, finally, ice crystals take the form of a prism, the cross-section of which is a six-rayed star (Fig. 1 B.). Falling on ice crystals, a ray of light, depending on the type of crystal and its position relative to the ray, can directly or pass through it without refraction, or the rays must undergo not only refraction in them, but also a whole series of total internal reflections. In reality, it is very rare, of course, to observe a phenomenon, all parts of which would be equally bright and clearly visible: usually one or the other part of it is developed brighter and more characteristic, the rest are either observed very weakly or even absent.

An ordinary circle or small halo is a brilliant circle surrounding a star, its radius is about 22°. It is colored reddish on the inside, then yellow is faintly visible, then the color turns white and gradually merges with the general bluish tone of the sky.Spaceinside the circle appears relatively dark; the inner boundary of the circle is sharply outlined. This circle is formed by the refraction of light in ice needles flying in all sorts of positions in the air. The angle of minimum deviation of rays in an ice prism is approximately 22°, so all rays passing through the crystals should appear to the observer to be deviated from the light source by at least 22°; hence the darkness of the inner space. Red color, as the least refracted, will also seem to be the least deviated from the luminary; followed by yellow; the remaining rays, mixing with each other, give the impression white. Less common is a halo with an angular radius of 46°, located concentrically around a 22° halo. Its inner side also has a reddish tint. The reason for this is also the refraction of light, which occurs in this case in ice needles facing the body at angles of 90°; This circle is usually paler than the small one, but the colors in it are more sharply separated. The width of the ring of such a halo exceeds 2.5 degrees. Both 46-degree and 22-degree halos tend to be brightest at the top and bottom of the ring. The rare 90-degree halo is a faintly luminous, almost colorless ring that shares a common center with two other halos. If it is colored, it will have a red color on the outside of the ring. The mechanism by which this type of halo appears is not fully understood.

You can often observe the lunar halo.This is a fairly common sight and occurs if the sky is covered with high thin clouds with millions of tiny ice crystals. Each ice crystal acts as a miniature prism. Most crystals have the shape of elongated hexagons. Light enters through one front surface of such a crystal and exits through the opposite one with a refraction angle of 22º .

Watching the winter street lamps, you can see the halo generated by their light, under certain conditions, of course, namely in frosty air saturated with ice crystals or snowflakes. By the way, a halo from the Sun in the form of a large bright column can also appear during a snowfall. There are days in winter when snowflakes seem to float in the air, and sunlight stubbornly breaks through thin clouds. Against the background of the evening dawn, this pillar sometimes looks reddish - like the reflection of a distant fire. In the past, such a completely harmless phenomenon, as we see, terrified superstitious people.

Can see such a halo: a light, rainbow-colored ring around the Sun. This vertical circle occurs when there are many hexagonal ice crystals in the atmosphere that do not reflect, but refract the sun's rays like a glass prism. In this case, most of the rays are naturally scattered and do not reach our eyes. But some part of them, having passed through these prisms in the air and refracted, reaches us, so we see a rainbow circle around the Sun. Its radius is about twenty-two degrees. It happens even more - forty-six degrees.

It is noticed that the halo circle is always brighter on the sides. This is because two halos intersect here - vertical and horizontal. And false suns are most often formed precisely at the intersection. The most favorable conditions for the appearance of false suns occur when the Sun is low above the horizon and part of the vertical circle is no longer visible to us.

What crystals are involved in this “performance”?

The answer to the question was given by special experiments. It turned out that false Suns appear due to hexagonal ice crystals, shaped like... nails. They float vertically in the air, refracting light with their side faces.

The third "sun" appears when only the upper part of the halo circle is visible above the real sun. Sometimes it is a segment of an arc, sometimes a bright spot of indeterminate shape. Sometimes false suns are as bright as the Sun itself. Observing them, the ancient chroniclers wrote about three suns, severed fiery heads, etc.

In connection with this phenomenon, an interesting fact has been recorded in the history of mankind. In 1551, the German city of Magdeburg was besieged by the troops of the Spanish king Charles V. The defenders of the city held firm, already more than a year the siege lasted. Finally, the irritated king gave the order to prepare for a decisive attack. But then the unprecedented happened: a few hours before the assault, three suns shone over the besieged city. The mortally frightened king decided that Magdeburg was protected by heaven and ordered the siege to be lifted.

Rainbow is an optical phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere and has the appearance of a multi-colored arc in the firmament.

In the religious beliefs of ancient peoples, the rainbow was attributed to the role of a bridge between earth and sky. In Greco-Roman mythology, even a special goddess of the rainbow is known - Iris. The Greek scientists Anaximenes and Anaxagoras believed that rainbows were created by the reflection of the Sun in a dark cloud. Aristotle outlined ideas about the rainbow in a special section of his Meteorology. He believed that a rainbow occurs due to the reflection of light, but not just from the entire cloud, but from its drops.

In 1637 the famous French philosopher and the scientist Descartes gave mathematical theory rainbow based on the refraction of light. Subsequently, this theory was supplemented by Newton based on his experiments on the decomposition of light into colors using a prism. Descartes' theory, supplemented by Newton, could not explain the simultaneous existence of several rainbows, their different widths, the obligatory absence of certain colors in the color stripes, or the influence of the size of cloud droplets on the appearance of the phenomenon. The exact theory of the rainbow, based on ideas about the diffraction of light, was given in 1836 by the English astronomer D. Airy. Considering the veil of rain as a spatial structure that ensures the occurrence of diffraction, Airy explained all the features of the rainbow. His theory has fully retained its significance for our time.

A rainbow is an optical phenomenon that appears in the atmosphere and looks like a multi-colored arc in the firmament. It is observed in cases when the sun's rays illuminate a curtain of rain located on the side of the sky opposite the Sun. The center of the rainbow arc is in the direction of a straight line passing through the solar disk (even if hidden from observation by clouds) and the eye of the observer, i.e. at a point opposite to the Sun. The arc of the rainbow is part of a circle described around this point with a radius of 42°30" (in angular dimension).

The arrangement of colors in the rainbow is interesting. It is always constant. The red color of the main rainbow is located on its upper edge, violet - on the lower edge. Between these extreme colors, the remaining colors follow each other in the same sequence as in the solar spectrum. In principle, a rainbow never contains all the colors of the spectrum. Most often, blue, dark blue and rich pure red colors are absent or weakly expressed. As the size of raindrops increases, the color stripes of the rainbow narrow, and the colors themselves become more saturated. The predominance of green tones in the phenomenon usually indicates a subsequent transition to good weather. The overall picture of the colors of the rainbow is blurred, since it is formed by an extended light source.

When artificially reproducing the phenomenon in the laboratory, it was possible to obtain up to 19 rainbows. Additional rainbows may be observed above the reservoir, non-concentrically located relative to each other. For one of them, the source of light is the Sun, for the other - its reflection from the water surface. Under these conditions, rainbows located “upside down” can also occur. At night, under moonlight and foggy weather, a white rainbow can be seen in the mountains and on the shores of the seas. This type of rainbow can also occur when fog is exposed to sunlight. It looks like a shiny white arc, painted yellowish and orange-red on the outside, and blue-violet on the inside. Rainbows are seen not only in the veil of rain. On a smaller scale, it can be seen on drops of water near waterfalls, fountains and in the surf. In this case, not only the Sun and the Moon, but also a spotlight can serve as a light source.

Polar Lights - glow (luminescence) of the upper layers of the atmosphere of a planet with a magnetosphere due to its interaction with charged particles of the solar wind. In most cases, auroras have a green or blue-green hue with occasional spots or a border of pink or red. Auroras are observed in two main forms - in the form of ribbons and in the form of cloud-like spots. Intense flashes of radiance are often accompanied by sounds reminiscent of noise and crackling. Auroras cause strong changes in the ionosphere, which in turn affects radio communication conditions. In most cases, radio communications deteriorate significantly. There is strong interference, and sometimes a complete loss of reception.

Mirage - any of us has seen the simplest. For example, when you drive on a heated asphalt road, far ahead it looks like a water surface. And this kind of thing has not surprised anyone for a long time, because a mirage is nothing more than an atmospheric optical phenomenon, due to which images of objects appear in the visual zone that under normal conditions are hidden from observation. This happens because light is refracted when passing through layers of air of different densities. In this case, distant objects may appear to be raised or lowered relative to their actual position, and may also become distorted and acquire irregular, fantastic shapes.

Ghosts of Brocken - In some areas of the globe, when the shadow of an observer located on a hill at sunrise or sunset falls behind him on clouds located at a short distance, a striking effect is revealed: the shadow acquires colossal dimensions. This occurs due to the reflection and refraction of light by tiny water droplets in the fog. The described phenomenon is named after a peak in the Harz Mountains in Germany.

St. Elmo's Fire- luminous pale blue or purple brushes from 30 cm to 1 m or more in length, usually on the tops of masts or the ends of yards of ships at sea. Sometimes it seems that the entire rigging of the ship is covered with phosphorus and glows. St. Elmo's Fire sometimes appears on mountain peaks, as well as on the spiers and sharp corners of tall buildings. This phenomenon represents brush electric discharges at the ends of electrical conductors when the electric field strength in the atmosphere around them greatly increases.

Conclusion

The physical nature of light has interested people since time immemorial. But, before the modern view of the nature of light was established, and the light ray found its application in human life, many optical phenomena were identified, described, scientifically substantiated and experimentally confirmed, occurring everywhere in the Earth’s atmosphere, from the rainbow known to everyone, to complex, periodic mirages. But, despite this, the bizarre play of light has always attracted and attracts people. Neither the contemplation of a winter halo, nor a bright sunset, nor a wide, half-sky strip of northern lights, nor a modest lunar path on the surface of the water leaves anyone indifferent. A light beam passing through the atmosphere of our planet not only illuminates it, but also gives it a unique appearance, making it beautiful.

Of course, much more optical phenomena occur in the atmosphere of our planet, which are discussed in this work. Among them there are those that are well known to us and have been solved by scientists, as well as those that are still waiting for their discoverers. And we can only hope that, over time, we will witness more and more discoveries in the field of optical atmospheric phenomena, indicating the versatility of an ordinary light beam.

Literature

Bludov M.I. “Conversations on Physics, Part II” - M.: Education, 1985

Bulat V.L. “Optical phenomena in nature” - M.: Education, 1974.

Gershenzon E.M., Malov N.N., Mansurov A.N. "General Physics Course"- M.: Enlightenment, 1988

Korolev F.A. “Physics course” M., “Enlightenment” 1988

Myakishev G.Ya. Bukhovtsev B.B. “Physics 10 - M.: Education, 1987

Tarasov L.V. “Physics in Nature” - M.: Education, 1988.

Tarasov L.V. "Physics in Nature"- M.: Enlightenment, 1988

Trubnikov P.R. Pokusaev N.V. “Optics and atmosphere - St. Petersburg: Education, 2002.”

Shakhmaev N.M. Shodiev D.Sh. “Physics 11 - M.: Education, 1991.

Internet resources

Application

The type of arc, the brightness of the colors, and the width of the stripes depend on the size of the water droplets and their number. Large drops create a narrower rainbow, with sharply prominent colors, small drops create a blurry, faded and even white arc.

One of the most beautiful optical phenomena of nature is the aurora.

Lake or lower mirages are the most common

mirage, a long-known natural phenomenon...

photograph, the ghost of Brocken, the shadow of a mountain seen against the background of evening clouds:

Halo is one of the most beautiful and unusual natural phenomena

Many people like funny pictures that trick their visual perception. But did you know that nature can also create optical illusions? Moreover, they look much more impressive than those made by humans. These include dozens of natural phenomena and formations, both rare and quite common. Northern lights, halo, green ray, lenticular clouds are just a small part of them. Here are 25 stunning optical illusions created by nature.

Every year in February, the water streams turn fiery orange.

This beautiful and at the same time frightening waterfall is located in the central part of Yosemite National Park. It is called Horsetail Fall (translated as “horse tail”). Every year, for 4-5 days in February, tourists can see a rare phenomenon - the rays of the setting sun reflected in the falling streams of water. At these moments, the waterfall turns fiery orange. It seems that hot lava is flowing from the top of the mountain, but this is just an optical illusion.

The Horse's Tail waterfall consists of two cascading streams, its total height reaches 650 meters.

Real Sun and two false ones

If the Sun is low above the horizon and there are microscopic ice crystals in the atmosphere, observers may notice several bright rainbow spots to the right and left of the Sun. These bizarre halos faithfully follow our luminary across the sky, no matter which direction it is directed.

In principle, this atmospheric phenomenon is considered quite common, but it is difficult to notice the effect.

This is interesting: On rare occasions, when sunlight passes through cirrus clouds at the right angle, these two spots become as bright as the Sun itself.

The effect is best observed in the early morning or late evening in polar regions.

Fata Morgana - a rare optical illusion

Fata Morgana is a complex optical atmospheric phenomenon. It is observed extremely rarely. In fact, Fata Morgana “consists” of several forms of mirages, due to which distant objects are distorted and “split into two” for the observer.

It is known that Fata Morgana occurs when several alternating layers of air with different densities are formed in the lower layer of the atmosphere (usually due to temperature differences). Under certain conditions they give specular reflections.

Due to the reflection and refraction of light rays, real-life objects can create several distorted images on the horizon or even above it, which partially overlap each other and rapidly change over time, thereby creating a striking picture of Fata Morgana.

Column of light emanating from the sun descending below the horizon

We become witnesses of light (or solar) pillars quite often. This is the name of a common type of halo. This optical effect appears as a vertical stripe of light that extends from the sun at sunset or sunrise. A column of light can be observed when light in the atmosphere is reflected from the surface of tiny ice crystals, shaped like ice plates or miniature rods with a hexagonal cross-section. Crystals of this shape most often form in high cirrostratus clouds. But if the air temperature is low enough, they can appear in lower layers of the atmosphere. We think there is no need to explain why light pillars are most often observed in winter.

Under certain conditions, a shadow can look like a ghost

When there is thick fog outside, you can observe an interesting optical phenomenon - the so-called Brocken ghost. To do this, you just need to turn your back to the main light source. The observer will be able to see his own shadow lying on the fog (or cloud if you are in a mountainous area).

This is interesting: If the light source, as well as the object on which the shadow is cast, are static, it will repeat any human movement. But the shadow will appear completely differently on a moving “surface” (for example, on fog). In such conditions, it can fluctuate, creating the illusion that a dark, foggy silhouette is moving. It seems that this is not a shadow belonging to the observer, but a real ghost.

Atlantic Road

It seems like this bridge is not completed

There are probably no more scenic highways in the world than the Atlantic Road, located in the Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. The unique highway runs across the northern coast of the Atlantic Ocean and includes as many as 12 bridges connecting individual islands with road surfaces.

The most amazing place Atlantic Road - Storseisundet Bridge. From a certain angle, it may seem that it is not completed, and all the passing cars, going up, approach the cliff, and then fall down.

The total length of this bridge, opened in 1989, is 8.3 kilometers.

In 2005, the Atlantic Road was named Norway's "Build of the Century". And journalists from the British publication The Guardian awarded it the title of the best tourist route in this northern country.

Moon illusion

The Moon appears to be large when located above the horizon.

When the full Moon is low on the horizon, it is visually much larger than when it is high in the sky. This phenomenon seriously puzzles thousands of inquisitive minds trying to find some reasonable explanation for it. But in fact, this is an ordinary illusion.

The simplest way to confirm the illusory nature of this effect is to hold a small round object (for example, a coin) in your outstretched hand. When you compare the size of this object with the “huge” Moon on the horizon and the “tiny” Moon in the sky, you will be surprised to realize that its relative size does not undergo any change. You can also roll a piece of paper into the shape of a tube and look through the hole formed solely at the Moon, without any surrounding objects. Again, the illusion will disappear.

This is interesting: Most scientists, when explaining the Moon illusion, refer to the theory of “relative size”. It is known that the visual perception of the size of an object visible to a person is determined by the dimensions of other objects observed by him at the same time. When the Moon is low above the horizon, other objects (houses, trees, etc.) come into a person’s field of vision. Against their background, our night star seems larger than in reality.

cloud shadows

Cloud shadows look like small islands

On a sunny day, from a high altitude, it is very interesting to observe the shadows cast by clouds on the surface of our planet. They resemble small, constantly moving islands in the ocean. Unfortunately, ground observers will not be able to appreciate all the splendor of this picture.

The atlas moth practically does not fly

The huge atlas moth is found in tropical forests in southern Asia. It is this insect that holds the record for the surface area of ​​its wings (400 square centimeters). In India, this moth is bred to produce silk threads. The gigantic insect produces brown silk that looks like wool.

Due to their large size, atlas moths fly disgustingly, moving through the air slowly and clumsily. But the unique coloring of their wings helps them camouflage in their natural habitat. Thanks to her, the atlas literally merges with the trees.

It creates the illusion that dew drops are floating in the air

In the morning or after rain, tiny droplets of water can be seen on the spider webs, resembling a necklace. If the web is very thin, the observer may have the illusion that the drops are literally floating in the air. And in the cold season, the web can be covered with frost or frozen dew; this picture looks no less impressive.

Green ray observed after sunset

A short flash of green light, observed an instant before the solar disk appears over the horizon (most often at sea) or at the moment when the sun disappears behind it, is called a green ray.

You can witness this amazing phenomenon if three conditions are met: the horizon must be open (steppe, tundra, sea, mountainous areas), the air must be clean, and the area of ​​sunset or sunrise must be free of clouds.

As a rule, the green beam is visible for no more than 2–3 seconds. To significantly increase the time interval of its observation at the moment of sunset, you need to immediately after the appearance of the green beam begin to quickly run up an earthen embankment or climb the stairs. If the Sun rises, you need to move in opposite direction, that is, down.

This is interesting: During one of his flights over the South Pole, the famous American pilot Richard Byrd saw a green beam for as long as 35 minutes! A unique incident occurred at the end of the polar night, when the upper edge of the solar disk first appeared over the horizon and slowly moved along it. It is known that at the poles the solar disk moves almost horizontally: the speed of its vertical rise is very small.

Physicists explain the effect of the green ray by the refraction (that is, refraction) of solar rays when passing through the atmosphere. Interestingly, at the moment of sunset or sunrise, we should see blue or violet rays first. But their wavelength is so short that when passing through the atmosphere they are almost completely scattered and do not reach the earthly observer.

The near-zenith arc looks like an inverted rainbow

Essentially, the near-zenith arc looks like a rainbow turned upside down. To some people, it even resembles a huge multi-colored smiley face in the sky. This phenomenon is formed due to the refraction of sunlight passing through ice crystals of a certain shape floating in the clouds. The arc is concentrated at the zenith parallel to the horizon. The top color of this rainbow is blue, the bottom color is red.

Halo

The glowing ring around the Moon in the night sky is a halo

A halo is one of the most famous optical phenomena, observing which a person can see a luminous ring around a powerful light source.

During the day, a halo appears around the Sun, at night - around the Moon or other sources, for example, street lamps. There are a huge number of varieties of halos (one of them is the false Sun illusion mentioned above). Almost all halos are caused by the refraction of light as it passes through ice crystals concentrated in cirrus clouds (located in the upper troposphere). The appearance of the halo is determined by the shape and arrangement of these miniature crystals.

Mountains and other tall objects turn pinkish

Probably every inhabitant of our planet has seen the pink glow. This interesting phenomenon is observed at the moment when the Sun sets below the horizon. Then mountains or other vertical objects (for example, multi-story houses) are painted a soft pink shade for a short time.

Crepuscular rays are observed in cloudy weather

Scientists call twilight rays a common optical phenomenon that looks like an alternation of many light and dark stripes in the sky. Moreover, all these bands diverge from the current location of the Sun.

Crepuscular rays are one of the manifestations of the play of light and shadow. We are sure that the air is completely transparent, and the rays of light that pass through it are invisible. But if there are tiny droplets of water or dust particles in the atmosphere, sunlight is scattered. A whitish haze forms in the air. It is almost invisible in clear weather. But in cloudy conditions, particles of dust or water located in the shadow of clouds are less illuminated. Therefore, shaded areas are perceived by observers as dark stripes. Well-lit areas alternating with them, on the contrary, seem to us to be bright stripes of light.

A similar effect is observed when the sun's rays, breaking through cracks into a dark room, form bright light paths, illuminating dust particles floating in the air.

This is interesting: Crepuscular rays are called differently in different countries. The Germans use the expression “The sun drinks water,” the Dutch use “The sun stands on legs,” and the British call the twilight rays “Jacob’s ladder” or “ladder of angels.”

Anti-crepuscular rays emanate from a point on the horizon opposite the setting Sun

These rays are observed at the moment of sunset on the eastern side of the sky. They, like the twilight rays, fan out, the only difference between them is their location relative to the celestial body.

It may seem that the anti-twilight rays converge at some point beyond the horizon, but this is only an illusion. In reality, the sun's rays travel strictly in straight lines, but when these lines are projected onto the Earth's spherical atmosphere, arcs are formed. That is, the illusion of their fan-shaped divergence is determined by perspective.

Northern lights in the night sky

The sun is very unstable. Sometimes on its surface there are powerful explosions, after which the smallest particles of solar matter (solar wind) are directed towards the Earth at enormous speed. It takes them about 30 hours to reach Earth.

The magnetic field of our planet deflects these particles towards the poles, as a result of which extensive magnetic storms begin there. Protons and electrons penetrating the ionosphere from outer space interact with it. The thin layers of the atmosphere begin to glow. The entire sky is painted with colorful dynamically moving patterns: arcs, bizarre lines, crowns and spots.

This is interesting: You can observe the northern lights at high latitudes of each hemisphere (therefore, it would be more correct to call this phenomenon “aurora”). The geography of places where people can see this impressive natural phenomenon expands significantly only during periods of high solar activity. Surprisingly, auroras also occur on other planets of our solar system.

The shapes and colors of the colorful glow of the night sky change rapidly. Interestingly, auroras occur exclusively in altitude intervals from 80 to 100 and from 400 to 1000 kilometers above ground level.

Krushinnitsa - a butterfly with incredibly realistic natural camouflage

In early April, when consistently warm and sunny weather sets in, you can notice a beautiful light speck fluttering from one spring flower to another. This is a butterfly called buckthorn or lemongrass.

The wingspan of the buckthorn is about 6 centimeters, the length of the wings is from 2.7 to 3.3 centimeters. Interestingly, the colors of males and females are different. Males have bright greenish-lemon wings, while females have lighter, almost white wings.

Krushinnitsa has amazingly realistic natural camouflage. It is very difficult to distinguish it from plant leaves.

Magnetic Hill

Cars seem to be rolling uphill under the influence of an unknown force.

There is a hill in Canada where extraordinary things happen. By parking the car near its foot and turning on the neutral gear, you will see that the car begins to roll (without any assistance) upward, that is, towards the rise. Many people explain the amazing phenomenon by the influence of an incredibly powerful magnetic force, causing cars to roll up hills and reach speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour.

Unfortunately, there is no magnetism or magic here. It's all about an ordinary optical illusion. Due to the features of the terrain, a slight slope (about 2.5 degrees) is perceived by the observer as an upward climb.

The main factor in creating such an illusion, observed in many other places on the globe, is zero or minimal visibility of the horizon. If a person does not see it, then it becomes quite difficult to judge the inclination of the surface. Even objects that are in most cases located perpendicular to the ground (for example, trees) can lean in any direction, misleading the observer even more.

Salt deserts

It seems as if all these people are floating in the sky

Salt deserts are found in all corners of the Earth. People in the middle of them have a distorted perception of space due to the lack of any landmarks.

In the photo you can see a dried-up salt lake located in the southern part of the Altiplano plain (Bolivia) and called the Uyuni salt flat. This place is located at an altitude of 3.7 kilometers above sea level, and its total area exceeds 10.5 thousand square kilometers. Uyuni is the largest salt marsh on our planet.

The most common minerals found here are halite and gypsum. And the thickness of the layer of table salt on the surface of the salt marsh in some places reaches 8 meters. Total salt reserves are estimated at 10 billion tons. On the territory of Uyuni there are several hotels built from salt blocks. Furniture and other interior items are also made from it. And there are notices on the walls of the rooms: the administration politely asks guests not to lick anything. By the way, you can spend the night in such hotels for only 20 dollars.

This is interesting: During the rainy season, Uyuni is covered with a thin layer of water, thanks to which it turns into the largest mirror surface on Earth. In the middle of the endless mirror space, observers get the impression that they are soaring in the sky or even on another planet.

Wave

Sand dunes turned to stone

The Wave is a naturally formed gallery of sand and rock, located on the border of the American states of Utah and Arizona. Popular national parks in the United States are nearby, so the Wave attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

Scientists claim that these unique rock formations were formed over millions of years: the sand dunes gradually hardened under the influence of environmental conditions. And the wind and rain, which acted on these formations for a long time, polished their shapes and gave them such an unusual appearance.

Apache Indian Head

It's hard to believe that this rock formation was formed without human intervention

This natural rock formation in France vividly illustrates our ability to recognize familiar shapes, such as human faces, in surrounding objects. Scientists have recently discovered that we even have a special part of the brain responsible for recognizing faces. It is interesting that human visual perception is structured in such a way that any objects similar in outline to faces are noticed by us faster than other visual stimuli.

There are hundreds of natural formations in the world that exploit this human ability. But you must agree: the mountain range in the shape of the head of an Apache Indian is probably the most striking of them all. By the way, tourists who had the opportunity to see this unusual rock formation located in the French Alps cannot believe that it was formed without human intervention.‎

An Indian in a traditional headdress and with headphones in his ears - where else can you see this?

The Guardian of the Wasteland (another name is “Indian Head”) is a unique geoformation located near the Canadian city of Madisen Hat (southeastern part of Alberta). When looking at it from a great height, it becomes obvious that the terrain forms the outline of the head of a local aborigine in a traditional Indian headdress, looking intently somewhere to the west. Moreover, this Indian also listens to modern headphones.

In fact, what resembles a headphone wire is the path leading to the oil rig, and the liner is the well itself. The height of the “Indian head” is 255 meters, width is 225 meters. For comparison, the height of the famous bas-relief at Mount Rushmore, on which the faces of four American presidents are carved, is only 18 meters.

The Wasteland Guardian was formed naturally through the weathering and erosion of soft, clay-rich soil. According to scientists, the age of this geoformation does not exceed 800 years.

Lenticular clouds

Lenticular clouds look like huge UFOs

Unique Feature lenticular clouds is that no matter how strong the wind is, they remain motionless. Air currents sweeping over the earth's surface flow around obstacles, resulting in the formation of air waves. Lenticular clouds form at their edges. In their lower part there is a continuous process of condensation of water vapor rising from the surface of the earth. Therefore, lenticular clouds do not change their position. They just hang in the sky in one place.

Lenticular clouds most often form on the leeward side of mountain ranges or over individual peaks at altitudes from 2 to 15 kilometers. In most cases, their appearance signals an approaching atmospheric front.

This is interesting: Due to their unusual shape and absolute immobility, people often mistake lenticular clouds for UFOs.

Clouds with thunderstorm

Such a sight inspires fear, you must agree!

Horrifying clouds with thunderstorms are observed quite often in flat areas. They descend very low to the ground. There is a feeling that if you climb to the roof of the building, you can reach them with your hand. And sometimes it may seem that such clouds are even in contact with the surface of the earth.

A thunderstorm (another name is a squall gate) is visually similar to a tornado. Fortunately, in comparison with this natural phenomenon, it is not so dangerous. A thunderstorm is simply a low, horizontally oriented area of ​​thundercloud. It is formed in its front part during rapid movement. And the squall gate acquires an even and smooth shape under conditions of active upward air movement. Such clouds, as a rule, form during the warm period of the year (from mid-spring to mid-autumn). Interestingly, the lifespan of thunderstorms is very short - from 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Agree, many of the phenomena listed above seem truly magical, even though their mechanisms can be easily explained from a scientific point of view. Nature, without the slightest human participation, creates amazing optical illusions that amaze the imagination of even researchers who have seen a lot of things in their lifetime. How can one not admire its greatness and power?