Exam 15: Light, Color, and Atmospheric Optics

Mirages can be produced by either a very cold or very hot layer of air next to the ground.

Instructions: Choose one answer from each pair of selections. The sky appears blue because air molecules are LARGER | SMALLER than the wavelength of visible light and selectively scatter the shorter wavelengths.

White light is a ____ of electromagnetic radiation.

Distinguish between the processes of reflection, refraction, and scattering of light. Give an example of an atmospheric phenomena produced by each one. Which of these processes produces dispersion?

This can only be seen when the sun is to your back and it is raining in front of you.

A mirage is caused by ____.

Instructions: Choose one answer from each pair of selections. To see a sundog or halo, it is important that the cloud be composed of ICE CRYSTALS | WATER VAPOR.

A ring of light encircling the sun or moon could be either ____.

Instructions: Choose one answer from each pair of selections. A(n) INFERIOR | SUPERIOR mirage can sometimes be seen in the distance while standing on a snow surface during winter.

Sunlight reflecting off ice crystals produces ____.

As a cloud grows larger and taller, ____ sunlight is reflected from it and ____ light can penetrate all the way through it.

Cloud iridescence is caused mainly by ____.

Secondary rainbows occur when ____.

A wet-looking road surface on a clear, hot, dry day is an example of a ____.

What color would the sky be if air molecules selectively scattered only the longest wavelengths of visible light?

Instructions: Choose one answer from each pair of selections. When white light passes through a glass prism, RED | VIOLET light bends the least.

Instructions: Choose one answer from each pair of selections. Because of the bending of sunlight by the atmosphere, the sun will appear to rise about two minutes EARLIER | LATER than it would if there were no atmosphere.

Red sunsets, blue moons, and milky-white skies are primarily the result of light ____.

Instructions: Choose one answer from each pair of selections. To see a rainbow in the morning, you should look TOWARD | AWAY FROM the sun.

At sunset in the middle latitudes, look for a rainbow toward the ____.