Why is the sky blue?

Answer 1

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 the sun you would get its actual colour of bright white, which is what you’d see out 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_sky_radiation
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question39.htm
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html
http://www.exo.net/~pauld/physics/why_is_sky_blue.html
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

Kind regards.

Answer 2

The sky is blue because the air molecules in the sky scatter the short blue visible light waves rather than the long red light waves.

This theory is also applicable during sunset when the light travels longer distances when the earth is almost turned away from the sun; the red wavelengths get scattered more.....

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Answer 3

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.

Blue is also how I feel when my baby leaves and my hound dog dies. Also, how I feel when the cops pull me over and I see their blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. Then, again, blue is the color of the K-mart special, so this color isn't all bad.


Why is the sky blue: Summary
So, why is the sky blue? It is because blue light from the sun strikes the air molecules and scatters and our eyes perceive it as blue.

Answer 4

Ok i am sure this is the right answer ..... the sky is blue because the sky reflects off the ocean so thats why its blue...also the atmosfear is blue too i think

Answer 5

earth's atmosphere consists of many gases and suspended particulate matter(dust,smoke). When white ligth passees through them; out of all the 7 colours(as white light is a combination of 7 colours) blue is scattered the most. So, sky appears blue.

Answer 6

All colors of the spectrum are absorbed by particles in our atmosphere except blue so we see a blue sky.

Answer 7

You can't be serious? You cannot think you are the first person to ask this. Not even this week!


http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=Atm_26kSwxmrT_qQutw7zCjpy6IX;_ylv=3?p=why+is+the+sky+blue

Answer 8

The molecules of the atmosphere preferably scatter radiation of shorter wavelengths.

Answer 9

ooh!! i know this one its because of the molecules in the air which scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light.


and its like really in depth in that website down there

Answer 10

because the colors of the rainbow have some color thing and it contrast w/ the sun and they make the sky blue