2006-10-27 23:55:36 · 9 answers · asked by madhu s 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Pollution near horizon.
2006-10-27 23:56:59 · answer #1 · answered by sangheilizim 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps I'm mistaken but I believe the sun will appear more yellow during midday and more reddish during the evening.
The scattering of light is the main factor. Sunlight is electromagnetic radiation. During mid day a clear sky will look blue. The spectrum of light ranges from long wavelength red to short wavelength blues in the visible portion of the spectrum. The properties of the molecules of air determine what part of the spectrum will be scattered. Thus, most of the wavelengths pass right through the air. The blue wavelength (shorter wavelength and higher frequency) has a problem. It can't pass through and is scattered. The longer wave length reds slide right through without a problem... except near sunrise/sunset. A thicker atmosphere and suspended nuclei from pollution, pollen, salt cause the reds to dominate the scattering which makes for a reddish sky. For astronauts the sky appears black even when they are directly in the sun. There are no atmospheric gases to scatter any of the wavelengths of light which makes the sky black. If you could scatter all of the wavelengths of light then it would appear white which is what a cloud can do.
2006-10-28 11:55:10 · answer #2 · answered by timespiral 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
several answers you have received are close but so far none are exactly right.
the reason the sun (and the moon) appear to look different at rise and at set is because we are looking across the horizon rather than at angles of greater repose. therefore we are looking through more distance of atmosphere. the atmosphere contains water (humidity) and as you know looking through water causes light distortion (like a prizm) as well as magnification. so the closer the sun or moon is to the horizon it appears larger and a different color, and as it climbs in the sky you are looking through fewer miles of atmosphere so it appears whiter and smaller.
incidently, water serves as a filter, so looking at the sun at sunset and sunrise typically will not hurt your eyes, that is why it is dark only a couple of hundred feet below the surface of the ocean.
2006-10-28 07:17:02 · answer #3 · answered by Hikerdad 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Stop looking at the sun it can make you go blind.
The condition of the atmosphere is the factor in how it looks.
Red at both sunrise and sunsets.
During the rest of the day White to Yellow to even grey(behind the clouds).
2006-10-28 06:58:13 · answer #4 · answered by minootoo 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What produces he colours of a sunset is the distance that the sunlight has to travel through our atmosphere.The lower it is,the more of our earths atmosphere does that light travels through. Now sublight is a mixture of lights of all colours. Normally, this mixture of light apears as while to our eues. but the atmosphere has moleculrs in the air, dust, wather , and other impurities present in the air. As light passes through them, different colours are scattered blue, and gree light more than it does the reds and yellows. So when the sub is low ,this scattering leaves more reda and yellows for us to see and we see a reddish/yellow subset.
2006-10-28 07:14:18 · answer #5 · answered by Prabhakar G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because it isn't red? LOL... because of the atmosphere that surrounds the earth. The earth has its own atmosphere that influences how the rays of the sun reaches our planet.
2006-10-28 07:06:53 · answer #6 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hikerdad is wrong it is because of tyndall effect .at these times the sun has to cover long distances and its light is scattered by particles
2006-10-28 08:02:59 · answer #7 · answered by Vaibhav Khurana 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it's due to tyndall effect , just as similar to sky vich looks blu
2006-10-28 07:06:34 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
white light is a mixture of many colours,
each has different frequency and wavelength.
2006-10-28 07:25:35 · answer #9 · answered by john martin 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋