Optical activity - Theoretical
I should have probably asked this way earlier, but, how are chirality and optical activity connected?
Chirality is a microscopic property while optical activity is a macroscopic property. What physical interactions between species in solution and linearly polarised light allow for rotation, i.e. change in the direction of polarisation?
Also, does the rotation in line of polarisation come with a non-negligible loss in intensity of the light (like we study using Malus' Law in wave optics) or is the intensity loss negligible?
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@Gyro Gearloose
Note for OP
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Since this is both chem and physics
without any rigour, my intuition is that if the molecule is asymmetrical/chiral it interacts with the light differently on both sides of it
causing optical activity
I got that, I wanted to know what those interactions are. Also, I can figure how that would polarise unpolarised light, but rotating the line of polarisation makes little sense to me. Plus, the orientation of the molecules in solution is erratic, and it's not like if you have CHFClBr, all the molecules will miraculously align themselves such that the hydrogen is facing towards the top of your polarimeter. The orientation of the molecules is truly random.
ah yeah i never really understood that either
@TK ye padha hai kya by any chance?
iteachchem
Transcription requested by Opt
So here it just says that it interacts with the electrical signal of light, light as electromagnetic radiation. So it's saying that it just does that. All details may be there in Atkins or somewhere.
It's not in Atkins, i checked.
I wanted to know how it interacts with the EM field
+fsolved
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