Meatball
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- Feb 1, 2008
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I've been thinking about this for a while, and now its just bothering me.
Why is it that a beam is brighter when the beam propagates towards you, than when you stand behind the source?
I ask because, I though that brightness would be a function of the number of particles in the air that reflect the incident wavelength, the size of said particles, and the angle of incidence of the beam to the particles.
So I thought reflection off these tiny particles would most often result in a change in direction that is more LIKELY to be 180 degrees.
What am I missing here? Is this an effect determined by "scattering"?
Why is it that a beam is brighter when the beam propagates towards you, than when you stand behind the source?
I ask because, I though that brightness would be a function of the number of particles in the air that reflect the incident wavelength, the size of said particles, and the angle of incidence of the beam to the particles.
So I thought reflection off these tiny particles would most often result in a change in direction that is more LIKELY to be 180 degrees.
What am I missing here? Is this an effect determined by "scattering"?