Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ucf-cs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!mcnc!duke!ucf-cs!giles From: giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Haloes on fogged-up glass... Message-ID: <1201@ucf-cs.UUCP> Date: Tue, 28-Feb-84 19:08:13 EST Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1201 Posted: Tue Feb 28 19:08:13 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 2-Mar-84 05:42:49 EST Organization: University of Central Florida Lines: 31 Partly in consequence of seeing the haloes around the sun last week, I noticed that street lights seen through a fogged-up car windshield have a colored halo. The strange thing was that there were areas of color, with no apparent order to where a particular color occured. My question, should anyone decide to accept it, is: What causes the light to be broken up into colors? Various possibilities I came up with were: (1) Rayleigh scattering off of dust particles suspended in the mist, (2) Diffraction effects from very fine scratches in the windshield, (3) Absorbtion from chemicals that may be dissolved in the mist. I'm not very happy with any of these ideas, however. Any other ideas out there? ave discordia going bump in the night ... bruce giles decvax!ucf-cs!giles university of central florida giles.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay orlando, florida 32816