why is the sky blue?

Answer 1

When light encounters particles much smaller than the wavelength of light, the light scatters. A phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. Atmospheric gas is an enormous resevoir of such particles. Short wavelengths scatter most effectively, and blue has a short wavelength, so the blue light scatters and appears to fill the sky. Though violet has a shorter wavelength than blue, human eye is not very good at seeing violet.

Answer 2

The sky is not blue everywhere. Pictures taken in outer space show the Space Shuttle against a black background. Lunar scenes portray astronauts against a black sky. The Earth, unlike the moon or space, has a protective blanket of gases, water and dust called an atmosphere. The blue color of the sky is a result of sunlight passing through and interacting with the atmosphere.

If you look at sunlight passing through a prism, you will find that white sunlight is actually composed of a rainbow of colors. As the sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the atmosphere selectively filters blue light using a process called `scattering'. Scattering of light can be simply thought of as a light wave bouncing off of the air, water and dust particles which make up the atmosphere. An example of the scattering of sunlight can be seen in a smoke filled room. When sunlight enters the room, smoke particles scatter the light, resulting in shafts of visible light. The smoke particles, however, have little effect on the color of the scattered light.

As we have mentioned in earlier columns, light comes in different `sizes' which we call wavelengths. Different colors of light have different wavelengths, with red light having a long wavelength and blue light having a short wavelength. Selective scattering (preferential scattering of one color light over the other colors) occurs when the particles are much smaller than the wavelengths of the colors. Only one color is then scattered, and the atmosphere appears to be that color. In the case of our atmosphere, shorter wavelengths (blues) are scattered much more strongly than longer wavelengths (reds). As the sunlight passes through the atmosphere, blue light preferentially scatters and becomes visible to the eye. Large scale changes in the composition of the atmosphere - such as dust particles resulting from volcanic eruptions and particulate matter from air pollution - can also change the color of the sky.

Although the atmosphere is essential for supporting life on this planet, scattering of sunlight from the particles in the atmosphere is also responsible for our unique blue sky.

Answer 3

Because gas molecules scatter blue light better than red light. So the blue light gets bounced between gas molecule after gas molecule, like balls in a pinball machine, until you can't tell where it comes from any more. It seems to come from everywhere in the sky, but it all really came from the Sun. At the same time, red light just passes through without scattering much at all. That is why the Sun looks red at sunset. Even at noon it is slightly redder that it would be if there were no air, but near the horizon light from the Sun has many times more air to pass through before reaching your eyes, so it looks very red then.

Answer 4

this is the correct answer.. i learned this in oceanology.

The sky is blue because blue is the strongest color on the scale. maybe not the brightest, but it pierces deeper than any color on the color wheel. that's why the ocean is a deep blue color, because the color blue can pierce that deep into the water. and since there is so much water on the earth, 75% if i'm not mistaken, the light reflects off of the water and thus the sky is a bluish color.

the reason it's redish in the evening is because the light doesn't reflect off of the water at a 180 degree angle, so it's just the firey color of the sun in the sky.

Answer 5

An object's color depends on what wavelengths of light is absorbs. The visible wavelengths of light consist of the colors of the rainbow. When an oject is a certain color, that means that the object is abosrbing all visible wavelengths of light except for that color. For example, if an object is read, that means that the object is abosrbing all the the wavelengths and colors of light except for read. The object is reflecting the red color so it appears to be red. The sky is blue because the gases in the air mostly reflect blue light and absorb more of the other colors.

Answer 6

Because if it were green, we wouldn't know where to stop mowing.

Seriously, though, blue light is the visible light most easily scattered, so blue appears to come from all over the sky. At the Sun reaches the horizon, only the red (least readily scattered) can make it through unscattered.

Answer 7

The sky is blue because blue is the second least dense color. The sky is not very dense, but it is not totally empty.

Answer 8

because the sky is not green.. hehehe

Answer 9

it's not always blue,at night it gets black

Answer 10

Because God wants it this way.