Is it coz of impurities in our atmosphere (its there at noon too)? or is there some kind of extra filtering of the rays thats taking place during sunset by the Earth's atmosphere? Wanna know.
2007-04-02 03:52:05 · 10 answers · asked by akhilcherian 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You draw a circle to represent the earth, and another circle round that to represent the air round it.
Now imagine the sun sending rays down to the earth at one location on the earth. The radiation goes through the thickness of the air to get to that spot from overhead, and it is noon time. Hence it is very hot.
Okay, shift the sun to the side, so that the rays are not coming down directly but over the horizon to the spot. See the thickness of air that the radiation has to pass through?
It is such a long path that the rays have to go through at sunset that the atmosphere soaks up the heat and that is why the sunlight is less bright and less hot at sunset.
2007-04-02 04:48:01 · answer #1 · answered by Minerva 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's mostly due to the extra distance that the light must pass through the atmosphere when it shines at a low angle. As you have already noted, whatever pollutants or other impurities are present are there throughout the day - and may be far worse at noon than in the morning. So impurities is clearly not the explanation.
2007-04-02 10:57:23 · answer #2 · answered by dogsafire 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is because the sun is below our horizon.
The sunset is often more brightly coloured in the daytime than the sunset or sunrise, with the shades of red and orange being more vibrant. The atmosphere responds in a number of ways to exposure to the Sun during daylight hours. In particular, there tends to be more dust in the lower atmosphere at the end of the day than at the beginning.
2007-04-02 12:46:25 · answer #3 · answered by spaceprt 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The sun has much more atmosphere to travel through when it is on our horizon. It is highly filtered at sunrise and sunset, but gets the least atmospheric filtering, at noon.
2007-04-02 10:57:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's because the sunlight has to travel farther through the atmosphere. The depth of hte atmosphere is only about 75 miles, but when the sun is low on the horizon, light has to travel much farther than that through the atmosphere to reach you.
2007-04-02 10:57:48 · answer #5 · answered by Brian L 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A lot of the light is reflected off of the top of the atmosphere.
2007-04-02 11:00:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the evening you are farther away from the sun due to the earths' rotation.
2007-04-02 10:57:42 · answer #7 · answered by smokymtnstn 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's still as bright but it doesn't look like it because of the earth's rotation. The more we face the sun, the brighter it appears
2007-04-02 10:54:48 · answer #8 · answered by Ruth Less RN 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as the earth rotates, less of the sun is directly over us, so we have less of the light.....which is why there is night......when the sun is away from us
2007-04-02 10:56:45 · answer #9 · answered by arizona 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
??
2007-04-02 10:55:23 · answer #10 · answered by huzaifahar2000 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋