What phenomenon is observed when light waves passing through a colloidal suspension scatter light?

The phenomenon observed when light waves pass through a colloidal suspension and scatter light is known as the Tyndall effect. This effect occurs when the light interacts with the small particles in the colloid, which are typically larger than the wavelength of light but not large enough to settle out of the mixture. As the light passes through the colloidal suspension, it is scattered in different directions by these particles, making the path of the light beam visible.

The Tyndall effect is commonly observed in mixtures like fog or milk, where the colloidal particles scatter the incoming light, creating a visible beam. This illustrates the interactions between light and matter, particularly how light behaves when it encounters particles that are suspended in a medium.

In contrast, refraction refers to the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another with a different density, while diffraction involves the bending and spreading of waves around obstacles or through openings. Dispersion is the separation of light into its component colors when it passes through a medium, such as a prism. However, none of these processes specifically describe the scattering of light in a colloidal system as effectively as the Tyndall effect does.