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Re: moonlight

We see the light from the moon that is specularly reflected from the rippled
surface of the water, not diffusely reflected - as long as the wave ripples
are coming in approximately parallel to shore. The rippled surface leads to
specular reflectance along a line (band). There is no appreciable specular
reflectance away from the band between the observer and the extended source
of light.

Larry Woolf;General Atomics;San Diego CA
92121;Ph:858-526-8575;FAX:858-526-8568; www.ga.com; www.sci-ed-ga.org

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Cohen
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: moonlight

For those who do not have Bohren's book, he only addresses why
the light is concentrated "beneath" the moon. He does not
address Skip's question.

From: Larry Woolf
See the discussion and diagrams on pages 66-68 in
"What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks" by Craig Bohren.

-----Original Message-----
From: Kilmer, Skip
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 7:11 AM

When one sees moonlight reflected from the surface of a lake, if the water
is at all disturbed, the disk is stretched into a line.
I've always thought of this as diffuse reflection from the rippled surface
Why don't the randomly directed surface ripples make it just as likely that
light hitting off to the side would reflect into our eyes?