why is the sky blue?

Answer 1

Try this link for about a million answers to your question.

http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=AihGJ6cUgb2SDq16yGmk5l8azKIX?p=why+is+the+sky+blue

All I'm going to say is it is definately NOT because the sky reflects the blue oceans.

Answer 2

On a clear sunny day, the sky above us looks bright blue. In the evening, the sunset puts on a brilliant show of reds, pinks and oranges. Why is the sky blue? What makes the sunset red?

To answer these questions, we must learn about light, and the Earth's atmosphere.



THE ATMOSPHERE
The atmosphere is the mixture of gas molecules and other materials surrounding the earth. It is made mostly of the gases nitrogen (78%), and oxygen (21%). Argon gas and water (in the form of vapor, droplets and ice crystals) are the next most common things. There are also small amounts of other gases, plus many small solid particles, like dust, soot and ashes, pollen, and salt from the oceans.

The composition of the atmosphere varies, depending on your location, the weather, and many other things. There may be more water in the air after a rainstorm, or near the ocean. Volcanoes can put large amounts of dust particles high into the atmosphere. Pollution can add different gases or dust and soot.

The atmosphere is densest (thickest) at the bottom, near the Earth. It gradually thins out as you go higher and higher up. There is no sharp break between the atmosphere and space.



LIGHT WAVES
Light is a kind of energy that radiates, or travels, in waves. Many different kinds of energy travel in waves. For example, sound is a wave of vibrating air. Light is a wave of vibrating electric and magnetic fields. It is one small part of a larger range of vibrating electromagnetic fields. This range is called the electromagnetic spectrum.

Electromagnetic waves travel through space at 299,792 km/sec (186,282 miles/sec). This is called the speed of light.

WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?
The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

Answer 3

The sky is blue due to an atmospheric 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

The sky is blue because:

A.) What we percieve as color is actually reflected light rays. You can look up Sir Issac Newton's work with prisms.
B.) Your eye percieves blue because when light strikes the sky it absorbs all the color rays except blue.( In a sunset this differs, or when the sky appears white.) I believe white is void of color and black is all colors or vice versa. I am not sure on that one.

Answer 5

The sky is blue from the reflection of the ocean. Since the oceans are blue, the sky is blue!! That is what I was told.

Answer 6

the scattering capacity of blue light is maximum hence the sky appears and this usually happen at day time rather then at evening and morning

Answer 7

Rayleigh Scattering,

Answer 8

the sky is blue because it reflects off of the ocean, and the oceans are blue because of the reflection of the skies...

Answer 9

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

got to this site..it will automatically display a page with your question on it...

ive looked at this page..just scroll a lil v\bit down and there is a section with an explanation to your question..

if your still not satisfied w/ the answer..look for it at yahoo! web search..

~goodluck~

Answer 10

did'nt Walt Whitman tell us in "leaves of grass"--it's your sky and you already know the answer, don't you!!