If space is black, then why is the sky blue on earth?

Question

If is caused by reflection from the sea - what is it reflected onto to make the sky blue?

Answer 1

The reason for the blue color, is not real scattering, but absorption and re-emission. There are molecules in the air that absorb the blues and greens in the air and then emit them in all directions. So from the white light coming directly from the sun, the blue color is absorbed and re-emitted by the air. This means the sky looks blue and the sun looks yellow, because the blue light is absorbed by the sky!

The sun actually looks white if you would be in outer space. the effect becomes stronger at sun set and sunrise, when more light is absorbed, because the sunlight travels through the sky longer. The sun then looks red / orange.

More info on: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

Answer 2

If I remember correctly, the sky is blue because the molecules in the air absorb and scatter the blue light from the sun more than the other colors. The sea is blue because it reflects the sky, not the other way around. Above earth isn't just space, there's earth's atmosphere, where all these molecules hang out. When it becomes night you can see space because the sun isn't giving off as much light to cause this.

Answer 3

Good quistion the sky is blue because the earth is made up of little atoms and when the color spectrums of the earth cross the result is its colors pass throught the atmosphere,while the blue waves get scattered all around the sky. This is why the sky is blue this is also what gives the ocean its blue hue the ocean reflects from the sky... And the reason the earth looks black from outer space is because in outer space you don't have those certain spectrums that set of the color of the earth..

Answer 4

I think AG from IIT Kgpr came closest in his answer.
Space is dark because of the vastness of the space. As no light reaches an "other side" to reflect back with enough energy in order for a pair of eyes to see or sense a colour or light. For example the light from the Sun which hit the Moon and then comes to the Earth is seen by our eyes and we see a form or colour of that light. However by the time same light from the Sun hits Jupiter and attempts to travel down to Earth it simply fades out. Apply that analagy to cotinuous lengths where light rays simply go on and on before hitting any surface.
Re blue sky - it is primarily due to refraction. However, the question is why does it take the hue of blue mainly. When a ray of light passes through refraction it splits into 7 colours - violet (most dense), indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange & red (least dense). The slanter (more acute) the angle of refraction the lighter the colour. Hence we see red along the border of sky during evening and morning and either blue or whitish blue in the middle of the day. Blue is simply a hue which is taken due to vast space.
A good example of this of course is the rainbow after refraction through rain droplets.

Answer 5

The atmosphere around the earth reflects blue light

Answer 6

I might be wrong here but i was told that its the atmosphere and all the dust etc. in the air bouncing the light from the sun around. Against the blackness of space it makes it look blue.

Answer 7

The sky is blue because of the refracted blue light of sun bounces itself in the atmosphere. Hence the blue colour.

Answer 8

This is probably one of the most asked oquestions on this site.

The sky is blue due to the scattering of light by air.

Answer 9

the blue sky you see is the atmosphere around the earth made up of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen and h20 (water)

Answer 10

Oxygen's natural color is blue