why is the sky blue?

Question

seriously.


i never got to ask my dad that.

Answer 1

Firstly there is no 'sky'. It's just a word we use to describe what we see above us. The reason space appears blue is because when sunlight hits the air the white light diffuses and is made up of different wavelengths.

Transmitted light (from the sun, light bulbs, fire, etc) is made up of a spectrum of colors. The longest wavelengths of light are on the red end of the spectrum and the shortest wavelengths are on the blue/violet end of the spectrum.

When transmitted light such as sunlight enters our atmosphere it collides with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The color with the shorter wavelength is scattered more by this collision. Because violet and blue are the shortest wavelengths the sky appears to be violet / blue. But because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light than they are violet light, we perceive the sky as blue.

Our eyes contain thousand of rods and cones, which are the receptors for light. Whenever one of the 3 Stooges pokes you in the eye you see a giant blue spot. This is because the blue receptors have been activated. Blue is one of the primary colors and thus more easily activated and seen by our eyes.

Answer 2

Though mostly nitrogen and oxygen, there are also other particles that ionize and react to the sun's light. As the sun goes up and down, the sky is not blue, as those particles show beautiful red and purple sunsets and rises - and then of course at night, since there is no sun to react with the particles in the sky, no blue sky..

Answer 3

light from the sun, reflecting off the water, makes a blue shade in the sky.

Answer 4

The gasses in our atmisphere make up the color we see when we look up.

Answer 5

Good question! I'm not sure either, but now I want to know!