2006-09-17 16:59:52 · 7 answers · asked by andalvara 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
the atmosphere acts like a prizm, depending on what angle you see light coming through determins what color you see
2006-09-17 17:10:02 · answer #1 · answered by GOMER PYLE 76 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sky is blue partly because air scatters short-wavelength light in preference to longer wavelengths. Where the sunlight is nearly tangent to the Earth's surface, the light's path through the atmosphere is so long that much of the blue and even yellow light is scattered out, leaving the sun rays and the clouds it illuminates red, at sunrise and sunset.
Scattering and absorption are major causes of the attenuation of radiation by the atmosphere. Scattering varies as a function of the ratio of the particle diameter to the wavelength of the radiation. When this ratio is less than about one-tenth, Rayleigh scattering occurs in which the scattering coefficient varies inversely as the fourth power of the wavelength. At larger values of the ratio of particle diameter to wavelength, the scattering varies in a complex fashion described, for spherical particles, by the Mie theory; at a ratio of the order of 10, the laws of geometric optics begin to apply.
Individual gas molecules are too small to scatter light effectively. However, in a gas, the molecules move more or less independently of each-other, unlike in liquids and solids where the density is determined the molecule's sizes. So the densities of gases, such as pure air, are subject to statistical fluctuations. Significant fluctuations are much more common on a small scale. It is mainly these density fluctuations on a small (tens of nanometers) scale that cause the sky to be blue.
2006-09-18 02:19:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just a suggestion, but before asking a question like this, maybe you should check to see if it's already been answered. Do a search on "why is the sky blue," and you'll see it's been asked about 985 times. Here are just a few of the answers.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060821154042AAsV2bz
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006041611802
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Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... Save yourself some time next time, and use the Answers search function first.
JMB
2006-09-17 18:22:26 · answer #3 · answered by levyrat 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it is because of the scattering of light particles by the atmosphere.depending on the amount of scattering different colors are formed.
2006-09-17 17:07:04 · answer #4 · answered by manoj 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Auroa
2006-09-17 17:13:26 · answer #5 · answered by sunflare63 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
O2 and light patterns
2006-09-17 17:07:18 · answer #6 · answered by austinguy62 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
GOMER PYLE is spot on
2006-09-17 20:22:01 · answer #7 · answered by Eddy G 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋