What does the scattering pattern for a particle of 45 nanometers look like?
Scattering occurs when the particle size is of the order of the wavelength of the light being used to observe it or larger than the wavelength (i.e water droplets in clouds have a size of 2 micrometres and effciently scatter all visible light). Assuming that this is just some solid sphere, which is not effected by rotational or vibrational energy level changes, then the scattering that would take place is known as Rayleigh scattering. Rayleigh scattering off Nitrogen molecues is the phenomenon that makes the sky blue. The limit for Rayleigh scattering is around a tenth of the wavelength. If we are considering visible light with a wavelength of 400-700nm, then a 45nm particle would heavily scatter blue/violet light. The size and shape of the particle is unimportant so it can be considered as a sphere of equivalent volume. The actual scattering pattern that occurs is dependent on the scattering coeffcient of the material and generally varies with inverse wavelength to the fourth power. D
