Why is the sky blue?

Question

I want to know why the sky is always blue when it is clear and sunny outside. How come it is never yellow or pink or even green??

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

The blue color of the sky is caused by the scattering of sunlight off the molecules of the atmosphere. This scattering, called Rayleigh scattering, is more effective at short wavelengths (the blue end of the visible spectrum). Therefore the light scattered down to the earth at a large angle with respect to the direction of the sun's light is predominantly in the blue end of the spectrum.

Answer 3

The Sky is Blue because it is male; if it was female it would be Pink. Three quarters of the Earth is water and it reflects the water.

Answer 4

The grass is green, the sky is blue,
I wish number 23 was a Knick too...

Answer 5

The sky is not blue because the water is blue, water is clear.

Answer 6

because 75 percent of the earth is water meaning most of the earth is covered by water ok? the water reflects from the sun into the atmosphere where it reflects back and makes the sky look blue

Answer 7

This has to do with the elements naturally found in the atmosphere. Oxygen and nitrogen fall in the Blue part of the color spectrum. Remember ROYGBIV from science class?

Answer 8

the sky is blue because the lakes and the rivers it reflexes of the water and that is why the sky is blue

Answer 9

If you did a search, you would see this lame question has been asked over 1200 times already. Even more than the 'woodchuck chuck' question.

Answer 10

Simply put, blue light is scattered more than red light in our atmosphere. This is called Rayleigh scattering.