Q.What is the discovery of C.V. Raman?
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →C.V. Raman discovered the Raman Effect — the inelastic scattering of light by molecules, in which scattered light shows wavelengths shifted from the incident wavelength.
Background
When light of a single wavelength (monochromatic light) is passed through a transparent medium (a liquid, gas, or crystal) and the scattered light is examined with a spectrometer, most of the scattered light has the same wavelength as the incident light (this is ordinary Rayleigh scattering). C.V. Raman, working in Calcutta in 1928, found that a small fraction of the scattered light has wavelengths different from the incident light.
Explanation
This shift happens because, in some scattering events, the incident photon exchanges energy with the vibrational or rotational energy states of the molecule it strikes:
- If the molecule gains energy from the photon, the scattered photon has lower energy → longer wavelength (called a Stokes line).
- If the molecule loses energy to the photon (already in an excited vibrational state), the scattered photon has higher energy → shorter wavelength (called an anti-Stokes line).
Significance …
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