why is the sky, blue?

Answer 1

Good question. But after reading the answers you received I decided I had better clarify a few things for you as there were some inaccurate statements made. First of all visible radiation, blue through red, arriving from the sun is scattered by air molecules. Now Rayleigh scattering says that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength. This means of course that the shorter the wavelength (blue in the case of visible radiation), the greater will be the scattering, if and only if there is no scattering from suspended dust in the atmosphere. This latter type of scattering is referred to as Mie (pronounced me) scattering. This kind of scattering accounts for the beautiful sunsets. I hope this helps you

Answer 2

"THE SKY IS NOT REALLY BLUE ITS JUST THE GLARE FROM WATER, I THINK, I DON'T REALLY PAY MUCH ATTENTION IN SCIENCE CLASS "

Obviously.
What is worse than the three or four times a day that the question is asked is the amazing number of people who don't know the answer who will jump in with this stupid idea of reflection off the water.

As has been said in the, at least, 1500 times this question has been asked, the colour of the sky - both the blue and the oranges and reds at sunset and sunrise - is caused by Rayleigh scattering.

Answer 3

The sky is blue due to an atmosphetic effect called Rayleigh scattering - certainly not because its reflecting the ocean which people sometimes say! Rayleigh scattering involves the scattering of light by molecules 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, which is what you’d see in space.

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'.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question39.htm
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
http://www.exo.net/~pauld/physics/why_is_sky_blue.html

Kind regards.

Answer 4

Poorcocoboiboi has the right of it. There are just too many morons in the world who can't figure out how to use a search engine (or are too lazy to use one)

What a waste of bandwidth and storage they represent.

And yes, it's Rayleigh scattering (off of nitrogen molecules) that gives the sky it's blue color.


Doug

Answer 5

I do agree. This question has been posted so many times, that I am really tired of reading it again. Im sorry. Next time dont waste 5 points and just check a search engine or the former questions that some people already posted

Ana

Answer 6

THE SKY IS NOT REALLY BLUE ITS JUST THE GLARE FROM WATER, I THINK, I DON'T REALLY PAY MUCH ATTENTION IN SCIENCE CLASS

Answer 7

Cause it reflects the water

Answer 8

I beleive it has something to do with the glare off of the water.

Answer 9

Because of the gases in the atmosphere

Answer 10

Why do people keep asking this question again and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and and again and again, without ever checking to see if it has been asked forty trillion times before?

The answer is Rayleigh scattering. Do some frigging research next time.