2006-12-26 02:21:03 · 6 answers · asked by amar v 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The red colour in the sky at sunset (and sunrise) is due to an effect called Rayleigh scattering. There is a similar form of scattering called Mie scattering which is responsible for the white colour of clouds.
Particles in our atmosphere that are approximately the same size as the wavelength of visible light cause the white light from the sun to scatter and split into individual components. Oxygen and Nitrogen (the main components of our atmosphere) scatter violet and blue light due to their small size. This is why the sky appears to be blue in the day time, especially at midday when the Sun is closest to us.
During sunrise and sunset the distance that the light has to travel from the Sun to an observer is at its greatest. This means the a large amount of blue and violet light has been scattered so the light that is recieved by an observer is mostly of a longer wavelength and therefore appears to be read.
2006-12-26 02:26:50 · answer #1 · answered by Som™ 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
sun is big and orange in colour in early mornings and evening because of refraction.it is red light that scateers the most from the atmosphere when light from sun falls on it and hence we see it as red.further.....we can see the sun 2 minutes before the actual sun rise and 2 minutes after the actual sunset .this too is due to refraction!
2006-12-27 17:49:00 · answer #2 · answered by priyaprayag1989 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its not that sun appears red.In the evening the sun's rays have to cross a long distance in the atmosphere as result blue rays are already scattered much and finally remaining red rays scattered which appears red or orange to us.
2006-12-28 13:15:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
that is because the sun is not directly over us and that orange glow is like a shadow of the sun remember we like on the earth not in the earth so as the world rotates the sun's beam stays the same and we (the earth) rotates on it and as the other part of the world gets some sun directly over it we get the shadow (the orange glow)
2006-12-26 05:09:12 · answer #4 · answered by b.j 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because of the light falling in a different angle as it rises in morning and subsides in the evening.
2006-12-26 02:24:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
because the sun is farther from us in the mornings and evenings so they have to travel larger amount of atmosphere which causes more to disperse and red can travel longer distances to our eyes.
2006-12-26 02:43:32 · answer #6 · answered by Ankit B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋