6 Optical Symptoms in the Atmosphere and Their Explanations

6 Optical Symptoms in the Atmosphere and Their Explanations

GEOGRAPHY • SMA / SMK

The atmosphere is the layer of air that surrounds the earth. The word atmosphere itself, comes from two words, the word ” atmos ” which means steam and ” sphaira ” which means the globe. So, the atmosphere can simply be said to be steam or a collection of air that envelops the globe.

As a layer that is above the earth, the atmosphere plays an important role in protecting the earth from the interference of celestial objects as well as from harmful sunlight radiation to creatures that live on earth.

The atmosphere itself is also still divided into various types of layers, ranging from the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, to the thermosphere (read more: 5 layers of the atmosphere ). In these layers of atmosphere, special events also occur, one of which is like optical symptoms.

Optical symptoms often appear in the atmosphere, especially in the troposphere. The troposphere is the layer of the atmosphere that is at the very bottom or at an altitude of 0 to 10 km from the earth’s surface. The troposphere has a different thickness in each place.

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Examples of Optical Symptoms

So, what are the optical symptoms that often occur in the atmosphere or specifically in the troposphere? Examples of optical symptoms in the atmosphere include hello, aurora, rainbow, lightning and thunder, and mirages.

1 # Hello

Hello, what is meant here is an optical symptom. Halo is a white fog that sometimes appears to circle the moon or sun. Halo can occur because of the cloud ice crystals that are refracted by moonlight or sunlight.

2 # Aurora

Aurora is also often referred to as polar light. What is meant by aurora is a symptom in the form of light around the polar circle that appears to glow at night.

Aurora can be formed if there are particles – electrically charged from sun spots (sun spots) that flow towards the earth and are attracted by the geomagnetic force of the north and south of the earth.

Aurora can occur at the north pole of the earth or at the south pole. Aurora that shines at the south pole is called aurora australis or southern aurora. While the aurora that shines at the north pole is called the aurora borealis or northern lights.

3 # Rainbow

A rainbow is an optical symptom in the atmosphere that generally occurs due to raindrops. The rainbow appears in the form of a semicircle (curvature) in the air that occurs when sunlight hits water particles in the air.

The water particles are in the form of vapors or thin, transparent points of water and act as prisms that reflect (reflect) and refract (spectrum) the color spectrum that exists in sunlight.

This ray of sunlight is then refracted and reflected into a spectrum of colors, consisting of various colors, in the form of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

4 # Flash

Lightning is a phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere in the form of electricity flow or leap in the form of light (light) that occurs between two clouds or between clouds and the earth with opposite electric charge. Lightning can occur when these opposing electric charges meet.

5 # Thunder

Thunder is a thunderous sound that occurs after lightning. This thunderous sound is caused by the air which suddenly expands because it is heated by lightning.

In the atmosphere there, thunder and lightning occur simultaneously. It’s just that we on earth can only hear the sound of thunder after lightning because light travels faster than sound.

6 # Mirage

Mirage is an optical illusion that occurs due to refraction of sunlight by air with different density levels. Mirages generally appear in the form of standing water in the middle of the desert or can also be on the surface of a paved road exposed to the hot sun.

The appearance that occurs is actually just sunlight refracted by a mass of air with a tenuous density. Generally seen on the surface of a desert or paved road.

by Abdullah Sam
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