#PhysicsFactlet
Scattering VS Extinction
In #Optics, the concepts of scattering and extinction are closely related. So closely related that many people tend to confuse them.

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March 19, 2026 - 16:33 UTC

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Imagine to illuminate a small object with a beam of light. If the object is small the scattered field will be essentially a spherical wave, and the total field will be the incident one plus the scattered field.

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If we were able to measure directly the field (as we can do in the microwave regime) we could happily stop here, but in optics we can only measure intensities, and the intensity is defined as the time average of the modulus of the Pointing vector.

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