Do you think the colors of a sunset are differnet than the colors of a sunrise?

Question

Light looks different to me at these times even though the sun is on the horizion in a similar position. Since the earth is spinning toward the sun at sunrise and away at sunset, does this effect the color we perceive? Or is there another explanation?

Answer 1

I do not notice much difference. The direction of the earth's rotation should not make any difference... really it would depend on what sort of clouds or air pollutants there were at the time. As bad as it is, a little pollution can make some nice colours when the sun is near the horizon...

Answer 2

I think this is an excellent question. It shows you are questioning things; that's a good thing.

Let's look at some factors in sunsets/rises. First, there is the Sun. Well, that doesn't change from east (sunrise) to west (sunset). So that wouldn't cause any differences.

Second, there are the particulates in the air: mist, smoke, rain, clouds, etc. These are the things that give color to the sunsets/rises. Might they be different between the east and the west versions? Maybe.

Suppose you live in a steel processing town. The smoke follows the normal winds that typically go from west to east. If you live up wind of that smoke and look west at the sunset, there could very well be fewer smoke particulates in the air than if you were to look east. In which case, the sunsets would be typically less red than the sunrises in the east because the smoke would be thinner in the west and less likely to filter out the blue hues.

For me, on the west coast, the sunsets are more spectacular than the sunrises in the east because the air over the ocean is fuller with mist, sea water, etc. So, the blue hue filtering is greater than in the east and the skies in the west are much more vibrant with reds and yellows than in the east.

Good question.

(By the way, your Earth spinning theory has some validity. It's in large measure the reason weather patterns flow from west to east in the northern hemisphere. So the spin is in large part the reason that smoke from the steel mill flows eastward rather than westward.)

Answer 3

Sunlight contains the same colours, regardless of the angle we view it.
However, as the sun rises it's shining through air that is cooler than the air it shines through at sunset. Cool air sinks, and holds less particulate matter than warm air. So that cooler air could have less water vapour, less dust, and less smoke in it and so the red light is scattered less. The sunrise might appear less red and more yellow to us.

Answer 4

I really can't tell a difference. It's all sky blue pink to me.

Answer 5

no