2006-09-27 15:18:32 · 17 answers · asked by optiquest 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
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
2006-09-27 16:05:24 · answer #1 · answered by tbom_01 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sky is blue due to 'scattering' of molecules back into the atmosphere. The blue in the visible light spectrum has very short wavelengths and when all the wavelengths are scattered back the shortest have the toughest time getting all the way back through the atmosphere so when you look up what you are seeing is the shortest wavelengths left in the scattering. Its the same reason most sunsets are red. Red has the longest wavelengths and can reach through the thickest part of the wavelengths at sunup and sun down.
2006-09-27 23:49:24 · answer #2 · answered by carolcoach64 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sky is blue because air is slightly blue. Much like a car is blue because it absorbs all colours except the blue(more or less) the air is slightly blue because it scatters the blue(very slightly) and not so much the other colours. At sunset, the sky looks red because the light has come through so much air that a lot of the blue light has been scattered away that you're seeing the slight red scattering. MMMKAY?
2006-09-27 22:45:17 · answer #3 · answered by eantaelor 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
As sunlight passes the earth some of it enters the upper atmosphere at an angle. Because of the angle and the changing density of the air some of the light gets bent downward... and the higher end of the visible spectrum gets bent more than the lower end... like colors of rainbow-- (low) red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (high)
high end = violet, blue.. etc
low end = red
because the higher end gets bent more... more of it comes to the earth than the lower end... much of the red light just passes beyond earth.. say to the moon... and causes the moon to look reddish sometimes...
anyway... all of the extra blue light makes the sky look blue...
as you go higher and higher you see less and less of the blue and the sky gets darker and darker until you see the black of space...
( I could be way off the deep end here.. but that is what I figure causes it)
2006-09-27 22:29:43 · answer #4 · answered by ♥Tom♥ 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The sky scatters blue light from the sun, so it appears blue if you are looking at the scattered light. However, if you look at a sunset, it is red-orange because the sky has scattered blue light, leaving all the red and orange light.
2006-09-27 22:28:02 · answer #5 · answered by WildOtter 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Hey you guys .... all plausable answers here but think about this. When a miner looks skywards from the depth of the shaft the sky is indeed black and stars can be seen.
Now colored gas and refraction theories seem a lil out of place here now.
Think a lil deeper eh.
2006-09-28 01:28:38 · answer #6 · answered by bonez2you 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sky is blue because the hydrogen in the air reflects blue in the light spectrum.
2006-09-27 22:27:13 · answer #7 · answered by got_chii 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
the sky is blue ( or appears blue) due to the way the light is absobed by the atmosphere. looking up from the moon the sky is black ( no atmosphere).
2006-09-28 12:43:25 · answer #8 · answered by mrpiggy001 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
preferential scattering of blue light in the atmosphere.
2006-09-28 13:25:55 · answer #9 · answered by Dome Slug 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why is the sky blue?, because its easier to spell than vermillion, or chartreuse.
2006-10-01 22:11:26 · answer #10 · answered by Opus 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋