Why does the sky look blue if space is mostly black, and the atmosphere is clear?

Answer 1

Because that is one of God's favorite color!

Answer 2

Oh my god people!
Did you go to school at all?

The blue colour of the sky has nothing to do with water in the oceans, or water vapour. Where do you get these ideas,
I know you are not getting it from school, because first year high school physics teaches the correct answer.

The sky is blue because the wavelength of blue light
is about the same size as the molecules in the air.
These molecules scatter this wavelength more than longer wavelengths which pass on though mostly untouched.

This is called Rayleigh Scattering and is a simple principle of physics. (if you take physics in school you will learn all about it)

So, since most of the other colours of light go right through the atmosphere we see mostly the scattered blue light.

hence why the sky is blue. nothing to do with water.


here are some links for you
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

http://science.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=question39.htm&url=http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/gbssci/phys/Class/light/u12l2f.html

Answer 3

white light is made up of all the colors in the rainbow and all the colors have different wavelenghts

when light bumps into particles that have longer wavelengths (than the light) i.e. dust or water- it bounces off it and remains white.
But if the light bumps into a gas particle (which have shorter wavelenghts than the light) a color gets absorbed - the color that was absorbed is the color we see.
Colors that have shorter wavelenghts like blue gets absorbed more than colors with long wavelengths like red.

the farther the sky is from you clearer it will look cuz the blue light will get "diluted" with more air and scattered away again in other directions so that less blue light reaches your eyes

the space looks black because there is no atmosphere in space

Answer 4

Particles in the upper atmosphere scatter light from the sun. Its called Rayleigh scattering. The angle the light is scattered through depends on the fourth power of its frequency, f^4. This means blue light is scattered far, far more than red.

So in the day, the sky (which is all scattered light or you would just see a small bright sun against a black background) is blue. at dusk, when you are looking towards the sun at mostly unscattered lights its red.

Answer 5

The sky is blue because blue has the shortest wavelength of any color and is the easiest for our eyes to see. Space is BLACK (not really) because there is very little to reflect any of the colors except in the atmosphere of the planets we can see.

Answer 6

A small amount of light from the Sun scatters off the molecules in the air, and tiny dust motes in the air. Blue light, having the shortest wavelength, is the most likely to be scattered off these tiny objects.

The blue sky is sunlight scattered off the atmosphere.

Answer 7

Space is black because there is nothing to reflect light back at you. The sky is blue because the air allows some colors to pass through, but reflects back the shorter blue waves. So it looks blue.

Answer 8

good quistion the sky is blue because the earth is made from little atoms and at the same time as the colour spectrums of the earth go the effect is its hues bypass throught the ambience,at the same time as the blue waves get scattered all around the sky. because of this the sky is blue that is likewise what provides the sea its blue hue the sea reflects from the sky... And the clarification the earth seems black from outer area is because in outer area you do not have those particular spectrums that set of the colour of the earth..

Answer 9

No. its has nothing to do with water vapor you morons. It has to do with the gases that make up the atmosphere and reflections of light passing through.. there is no other color as dominant than blue given the circumstances.

Answer 10

That's just because the atmosphere is NOT clear! It refracts blue light, which means it's blue.

Answer 11

The sky looks blue for the same reason that distant figures look blurry.
Its because of the water particles in the air. plain and simple.