why is the sky blue?

Answer 1

Rayleigh scattering. I'd go into more detail, but I've seen this question 5 times in the last hour and other people gave the necessary detail on that topic. Try searching for a question next time.

Answer 2

We have all wondered, at some point, why the sky is blue. Now is the time to find out - after all, someday your kids will probably ask YOU why the sky is blue! Ready?

The light that comes from the Sun is white. That white light is actually a mixture of all colors, but because they are mixed up we don't see the separate colors just the white sunlight.

As the sun's light passes through our atmosphere, the light becomes scattered by all the air and particles such smog and dust. The part of the sunlight that gets scattered the most is the blue part. That means that the blue gets separated from the other colors and we get a blue sky!

At sunset or sunrise, the sun is at a very low angle, so the rays pass through even more molecules and particles. This scatters the light even more, separating red, orange and yellow from the white light. The more particles, the more scattering.

I hope this helps :)

Answer 3

The sun's rays contain many colors thats how a rainbow is made well light enters earth believe it or not and bounces back into space all the colors of the light excape except blue which fills the sky with blue.

Answer 4

The sun reflects through tiny water particles in the sky and make the sky look blue.

Answer 5

Well the sun is the only source of light and yet it doesn't work like a flashlight where the latter only lights up a small part of the surroundings. This and the blue coloration is due to scattering of sunlight by the small particles of earth's atmosphere. They scatter only the higher freq. or the smallest wavelenght lights like blue and violet. But we can't really see violet with our eyes that much.

Answer 6

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.

The energy of the radiation depends on its wavelength and frequency. Wavelength is the distance between the tops (crests) of the waves. Frequency is the number of waves that pass by each second. The longer the wavelength of the light, the lower the frequency, and the less energy it contains.



COLORS OF LIGHT
Visible light is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes can see. Light from the sun or a light bulb may look white, but it is actually a combination of many colors. We can see the different colors of the spectrum by splitting the light with a prism. The spectrum is also visible when you see a rainbow in the sky.

The colors blend continuously into one another. At one end of the spectrum are the reds and oranges. These gradually shade into yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. The colors have different wavelengths, frequencies, and energies. Violet has the shortest wavelength in the visible spectrum. That means it has the highest frequency and energy. Red has the longest wavelength, and lowest frequency and energy.



LIGHT IN THE AIR
Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits.

Dust particles and water droplets are much larger than the wavelength of visible light. When light hits these large particles, it gets reflected, or bounced off, in different directions. The different colors of light are all reflected by the particle in the same way. The reflected light appears white because it still contains all of the same colors.

Gas molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. If light bumps into them, it acts differently. When light hits a gas molecule, some of it may get absorbed. After awhile, the molecule radiates (releases, or gives off) the light in a different direction. The color that is radiated is the same color that was absorbed. The different colors of light are affected differently. All of the colors can be absorbed. But the higher frequencies (blues) are absorbed more often than the lower frequencies (reds). This process is called Rayleigh scattering. (It is named after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first described it in the 1870's.)



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.

WHY IS THE SUNSET RED?
As the sun begins to set, the light must travel farther through the atmosphere before it gets to you. More of the light is reflected and scattered. As less reaches you directly, the sun appears less bright. The color of the sun itself appears to change, first to orange and then to red. This is because even more of the short wavelength blues and greens are now scattered. Only the longer wavelengths are left in the direct beam that reaches your eyes.

The sky around the setting sun may take on many colors. The most spectacular shows occur when the air contains many small particles of dust or water. These particles reflect light in all directions. Then, as some of the light heads towards you, different amounts of the shorter wavelength colors are scattered out. You see the longer wavelengths, and the sky appears red, pink or orange.

Answer 7

The stuff in the atmosphere (gases and such) absorbs most colors of light but refracts and scatters blue light.

Answer 8

sky appears blue due to refraction..abd due to presence of air in atmosphere..although it's black if we go and see it frm outside of our atmosphere

Answer 9

Why is the grass green?
Why is rain wet?

Because it just is, that's why!

Answer 10

Because God made it that way.