Why is the sky blue?

Answer 1

Einstein answered this question. It has to do with the way sunlight is scattered by the molecules in the atmosphere. Blue light scatters more than red (Tyndall effect also known as Rayleigh scattering), so more blue light reaches our eye.

There is an excellent description at the website listed below (look at the cartoon and it will be pretty clear).

It is not a reflection from the ocean. And it isn't just water molecules that cause the effect.

Aloha

Answer 2

Here is something interesting to think about: When you look at the sky at night, it is black, with the stars and the moon forming points of light on that black background. So why is it that, during the day, the sky does not remain black with the sun acting as another point of light? Why does the daytime sky turn a bright blue and the stars disappear?

The first thing to recognize is that the sun is an extremely bright source of light -- much brighter than the moon. The second thing to recognize is that the atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere have an effect on the sunlight that passes through them.

There is a physical phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering that causes light to scatter when it passes through particles that have a diameter one-tenth that of the wavelength (color) of the light. Sunlight is made up of all different colors of light, but because of the elements in the atmosphere the color blue is scattered much more efficiently than the other colors.

So when you look at the sky on a clear day, you can see the sun as a bright disk. The blueness you see everywhere else is all of the atoms in the atmosphere scattering blue light toward you. (Because red light, yellow light, green light and the other colors aren't scattered nearly as well, you see the sky as blue.)

Answer 3

When transmitted light such as sunlight enters our atmosphere it collides with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The color with the shorter wavelength is scattered more by this collision. Because violet and blue are the shortest wavelengths the sky appears to be violet / blue. But because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light than they are violet light, we perceive the sky as blue.

Answer 4

The sky isn't really blue. The gases that surround the earth are struck by the light from the sun and this is what causes the bluish color that you see.

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.

Source(s):
http://www.answers.com/rayleigh%20scatte...

Answer 6

I don't think the sky is blue. what we see is the layer surrounding the earth and it appears blue in the day because of the sunlight passing through.

Answer 7

Out of all the colours of sunlight, small particles hanging in sky reflect only blue colour due to its wavelength. Hence it appears blue.

Answer 8

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering of the shorter visible wavelengths (of electromagnetic radiation) by gases in the atmosphere.

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

Answer 9

Sunlight is white.
Blue has smallest wavelength among all the colours of light.
So it is scattered the most by the atmosphere, and the sky seems blue.

Answer 10

Hmm Because wavelenghts of light are absorbed by the atmosphere leaving the waves that are interpreted as blue