Why is the sky Blue?

Question

Just wondering....

Answer 1

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering–named after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first describe how light, when after it hits a gas molecule, may be ‘absorbed’ to be radiated later in a different direction.

Therefore, longer wavelengths (red, orange, etc.) pass straight through while blue is often absorbed and re-radiated and is 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.

If the absorption bothers you, Science Made Simple has a portion that lets Children read why the sky is blue:

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.

Wonders never cease…

Answer 2

The light we have here on Earth comes from the Sun. Sunlight looks white, but is actually a mixt ure of all of the colors of the rainbow. When sunlight strikes air particles (which are very small), the light itself is scattered in all directions, forward, sideways, and backwards.

Air molecules scatter some colors of light better than others. Blue light is scattered the most and red light is scattered the least. In fact, blue light is scattered at least 10 times more than red light. Since the blue rays of lights are scattered th e most, they reach our eyes from all directions and we see more blue than any other color. This makes the sky look blue.

If you were living on Mars, and you asked your Martian parents about the sky there, you'd have to ask the question...why is the sky red? On Mars, dust in the air turns the sky red at midday and purple at sunset!

Answer 3

The sky isn't really blue. The sky, which is what we call it blue. Lets say we name it red than it will be red would it not. God made the sky look that way, we just name it blue. But thats a wise answer maybe you want a scienctific one. Well I am not the right person.

Answer 4

The sky is blue because air molecules in the sky act as tiny resonators that scatter blue light.

Answer 5

Rayleigh scattering (named after Lord Rayleigh) is the scattering of light, or other electromagnetic radiation, by particles much smaller than the wavelength of the light. It occurs when light travels in transparent solids and liquids, but is most prominently seen in gases. Rayleigh scattering of sunlight by the atmosphere is the main reason light from the sky is blue.

Answer 6

When light particles called photons hit the Earth's atmosphere, the higher frequency light, blue, tends to get scattered. The Sun emits light in all frequency and therefore, all colours. The blue photons will gets bounced off and when it reaches your eyes, it comes from all directions. The other colours instead gets scattered very little, so they tend to reach you in the direction of the Sun.

Answer 7

I have been asked this question many times. Instead of losing 5 points, why don't you just look it up on google?

Answer 8

Because the earth just broke up with it and is now seeing the sea.

Answer 9

Scattering of light.

Answer 10

accumulation of oxygen in mass amounts