why is the sky blue?

Question

what makes the different variations of blue. for example: its really blue at 10:00 AM but at 3:00 PM its not so blue.

Answer 1

Why is the sky blue?

Clear blue sky.The sky is blue because air scatters short-wavelength light in preference to longer wavelengths. When we look toward a part of the sky not near the sun, the blue color we see is blue light waves scattered down toward us from the white sunlight passing through the air overhead. Near sunrise and sunset, most of the light we see comes in nearly tangent to the Earth's surface, so that the light's path through the atmosphere is so long that much of the blue and even yellow light is scattered out, leaving the sun rays and the clouds it illuminates red.

GO TO:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_sky_radiation

Answer 2

The correct response is that light is scattered by air. All colors are scattered, but those with shorter wavelength are scattered more Violet is scattered even more, but the eye is less sensitive to that color (and it also averages with the green).

This has little to do with the presence of water, although water accentuates the phenomenon; you have the same recognizable blue in the dampness of Florida or in the dryest of the deserts. You don't get variation in sky color with changing humidity, as you'd expect if water was the decisive factor.

And it has nothing to do with the "prism effect" mentioned by somebody; this answer is totally wrong. If it was true, we'd see a ring of colours around the Sun, similar to the rainbow, A prism effect is actually seen at stars relatively close to the horizon, but the effect is so small that you need a telescope to se the colour decomposition.

Answer 3

It's best explained using diagrams and these sites should help you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mie_theory

In a nutshell it's because some colours of the light from the sun are deflected by atoms and molecules in the atmosphere. The higher in the sky the sun is the less atmosphere the light travels through and the less scattering takes place.

It appears bluest when there is least scattering, as the sun sets on the horizon the light reaches us at an oblique angle and passes through more atmosphere so scattering more light and producing reds, yellows and oranges.

Use the links above for a better explanation.

Answer 4

he 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 5

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.

Answer 6

it's the angle at which the sun's rays are refracted by the atmosphere. in a sense the sky is not blue, because at sunset it turns red, orange, etc. when the sun's rays hit the the atmoshpere they are difracted into the colors of the rainbow. the blue light continues forward and the other colors shoot out at an angle. thus when the sun sets we get the colors on the other side of the rainbow.

Answer 7

The white light from the sun is a mixture of all colours of the rainbow. This was demonstrated by Isaac Newton, who used a prism to separate the different colours and so form a spectrum. The colours of light are distinguished by their different wavelengths. The visible part of the spectrum ranges from red light with a wavelength of about 720 nm, to violet with a wavelength of about 380 nm, with orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo between. The three different types of colour receptors in the retina of the human eye respond most strongly to red, green and blue wavelengths, giving us our colour vision.

Answer 8

The Light of the sun are in many different colors. Space acts as a prism and spreads the light and by chance over here by Earth we mostly get the blue color of the light.

Answer 9

It is due to the dispersion of light. The light from the sun undergoes refraction whn it passes through our atmosphere. whn it gets refracted the blue light is dispersed more than others by air molecules. Therefore the sky appears blue :)

Answer 10

its the mixture of gases in the atmosphere allowing only certain portions of the suns light & radiation in. Those combinations are visible to us in that part of the colour spectrum, so we see it as blue. Other worlds that have different atmospheres and allow light through in different ways are different colours.