SCIENTIFICALLY SPEAKING

@vstone (69)
United States
September 8, 2006 2:21pm CST
Why is the sky blue?
1 person likes this
6 responses
• Singapore
16 Dec 06
I think it's because the reflection of the ocean.
• India
16 Dec 06
The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white. THE BLACK SKY AND WHITE SUN On Earth, the sun appears yellow. If you were out in space, or on the moon, the sun would look white. In space, there is no atmosphere to scatter the sun's light. On Earth, some of the shorter wavelength light (the blues and violets) are removed from the direct rays of the sun by scattering. The remaining colors together appear yellow. Also, out in space, the sky looks dark and black, instead of blue. This is because there is no atmosphere. There is no scattered light to reach your eyes. WHY IS THE SUNSET RED? As the sun begins to set, the light must travel farther through the atmosphere before it gets to you. More of the light is reflected and scattered. As less reaches you directly, the sun appears less bright. The color of the sun itself appears to change, first to orange and then to red. This is because even more of the short wavelength blues and greens are now scattered. Only the longer wavelengths are left in the direct beam that reaches your eyes. The sky around the setting sun may take on many colors. The most spectacular shows occur when the air contains many small particles of dust or water. These particles reflect light in all directions. Then, as some of the light heads towards you, different amounts of the shorter wavelength colors are scattered out. You see the longer wavelengths, and the sky appears red, pink or orange.
@MySpot (2600)
• United States
18 Sep 06
I love this question! Light is a kind of energy that can travel through space. Light from the sun or a light bulb looks white, but it is really a mixture of many colors. The colors in white light are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. You can see these colors when you look at a rainbow in the sky. The sky is filled with air. Air is a mixture of tiny gas molecules and small bits of solid stuff, like dust. As sunlight goes through the air, it bumps into the molecules and dust. When light hits a gas molecule, it may bounce off in a different direction. Some colors of light, like red and orange, pass straight through the air. But most of the blue light bounces off in all directions. In this way, the blue light gets scattered all around the sky. When you look up, some of this blue light reaches your eyes from all over the sky. Since you see blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. In space, there is no air. Because there is nothing for the light to bounce off, it just goes straight. None of the light gets scattered, and the "sky" looks dark and black. IN SHORT, IT'S NOT... IT JUST LOOKS THAT WAY!
• India
6 Oct 06
Now that is an interesting quetion so lets see The light coming from the sun is white , not necessary, i say so because it is not exactly white ,it is made up of seven colors which constitute the rainbow and theses mix in proportions to give the effect of white all these seven colors have different wavelengths and their dispersion is inversely proportional to their wavelengths so the fact remains that blue light is dispersed by the atmosphere most and is scattered all over the sky that is why we see it blue
@Smclin1 (324)
• United States
7 Oct 06
The sky is like a giant sponge. It soaks up all colors of light, letting only blue through most of the time. Sometimes certain particles let through reds and purples, leading to brilliant sunsets with colors other than blue. It has nothing to do with the sky actually being blue, we just see it as being blue.
• India
12 Dec 06
its a god creation thats why sky is the blue .