is the sky blue?

Answer 1

Not in the usual sense, no. We think of a surface as having a given color because it reflects light of that color, and absorbs light of other wavelengths. But if you took any part of the atmosphere that we see as the sky, it would not be blue at all, but transparent.

This is because the sky's blue color is caused by a natural phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, in which light of shorter wavelengths is scattered by gaseous particles, which in this case would be the atmosphere. Violet and blue are the two shortest wavelengths of visible light, so they are scattered very effectively, seeming to fill the sky. The human eye is better at seeing blue than violet, so the sky looks blue. But there's nothing up there that is actually blue in the sense usually meant when discussing visible light.

Answer 2

Well it looks blue...

Why does the sky look blue?

Its due to Rayleigh scattering - certainly not because its reflecting the ocean which people sometimes say! Rayleigh scattering involved the scattering of light by particles smaller than the wavelength of light. It has a smaller effect on colours with longer wavelengths and that is why the sky is blue - and also in fact why the sun is yellow - if you added up all the blue tint in the sky and focused it in the area of sun you would get its actual colour of bright white.

Physicists used to say that Rayleigh diffraction was responsible for the reddish tint in sunrise and sunset because the light had to travel through more atmosphere to reach us however this is currently disputed and there is another optical theorem at work called 'Lorenz-Mie theory'. Kind regards.

Why has jamv0051given a link which explains it correctly but got the answer wrong himself?

Answer 3

The sky is blue only in an atmoshere like ours. Nitrogen and oxygen molecules reflect blue light waves and absorb other colors. the blue light bounces around, reflecting off many air molecules so the sky appears to be blue. At night when there is no light hitting the air molecules, the sky is black.
On the moon there is no atmosphere, so the sky is black.
So the blue color of the sky is light bouncing off the atmoshere.

Answer 4

The sky is blue because we perceive it as blue or we call it thus. The sky colouration is reflective of the light and atmospheric conditions.

Answer 5

Actually, the sky is not really blue, but here is the info that you are looking for.

Answer 6

The sky looks black. It is the sun and the water on earth that makes it look blue. If you would care to read about it from a scientific pespective
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

Answer 7

Let's put it this way, clear water particles fill the sky, making it appears blue combined with sunlight.

Answer 8

well of course the sky is blue. what made you think it wasn't?

Answer 9

the sky is not blue.
what makes it blue is the earths dust particles and the sun's ultraviolet-light. ( actualy i dont know)

Answer 10

It looks blue, the atmosphere keeps the black of space from showing thru, so really...no it's not blue..