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Summary of key terms Diffraction the bending of light around an obstacle or through a narrow slit in such a way that fringes of light and or colored bands are polarized. Polarization the alignment of the electric vectors that make up electromagnetic radiation. Such waves of aligned vibrations are said to be polarized. Hologram A two-dimensional microscopic diffraction pattern that shoes three-dimensional optical images. Reading Materials: Why the Sky Is Blue If a beam of a particular frequency of sound is directed to a tuning fork of similar frequency, the tuning forking will be set into vibration and will effectively redirect the beam in many directions. The tuning fork will be set into vibration and will effectively redirect the beam in many directions. The tuning fork scatters the sound. A similar process occurs with the scattering of light from atoms and particles that are far apart from one another, as in atmosphere. We know that atoms behave like tiny optical tuning forks and re-emit light that shine on them. Very tiny particles do the same. The tinier the particle, the higher the frequency of light it will scatter. This is similar to the way small bells ring with higher notes than larger bells, The nitrogen and oxygen molecules and the tiny particles that make up the atmosphere are like tiny bells that “ring” with high frequencies when energized by sunlight. Like sound from the bells, the re-emitted is sent in all directions. It is scattered. Most of the ultraviolet light from the sun is absorbed by a thin protective layer of ozone gas in the upper atmosphere. The remaining ultraviolet sunlight that passes through the atmosphere is scattered by atmospheric particles and molecules. Of the visible frequencies, violet is scattered the most, followed by blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, in that order. Red is scattered only a tenth as much as violet. Although violet light is scattered more than blue, our eyes are not very sensitive to violet light. T