why is the sky blue?
We all know the sky is blue, but have you ever wondered why? In this blog post, we will explore the science behind why the sky is blue. From the sunlight reflecting off of particles in the atmosphere to the scattering of light, read on to learn more about this phenomenon.
What makes the sky blue?
Blue light scatters more than other colors when it enters the environment. This explains why the sky is typically blue. The blueness of the sky is caused by a particular type of scattering called Rayleigh scattering. In 1871, Lord Rayleigh, John William Strutt, proposed that when light strikes particles that are much smaller than the wavelength of light, the resulting scattered light will be bluer than when it strikes larger particles.
The different colors of the sky
When the sun is high in the sky, the light waves bounce off of the particles in the atmosphere and scatter in all directions. This includes blue light, which is scattered more than the other colors because it travels in smaller waves. This is why the sky looks blue most of the time.
But when the sun is low on the horizon, the light has to travel through more atmosphere to reach us. The blue light is scattered away from us and we see more red and yellow light since those waves are not scattered as much. This is why sunsets are usually red and orange.
Why the sky changes color
When the sun is high in the sky, its light casts a blue glow on the atmosphere. This blue color is caused by the scattering of sunlight by atmospheric gases and particles. The size of these particles determines how much they scatter sunlight. The smaller the particle, the more it scatters sunlight.
The blueness of the sky is actually an illusion. The sky appears blue because our brains interpret what we see based on past experience. When we look at an object, our brains try to make sense of that object by comparing it to other objects that we have seen before. If an object looks similar to something we have seen before, our brain will assign it the same color as that other object.
So, when we look at the sky, our brain compares it to other objects that are typically blue, like the ocean or a clear daytime sky. Based on this comparison, our brain concludes that the sky must be blue.
How to make the sky blue
The blue color of the sky is the result of a particular type of scattering of sunlight by the atmosphere. Sunlight is a mixture of all colors of the visible spectrum. When this sunlight hits the atmosphere, the different colors are scattered in different directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colors because it travels in smaller and shorter waves. This is why the sky is blue most of the time.
Conclusion
The scattering caused by Rayleigh is what gives the sky its blue hue. This is when the atmosphere scatters sunlight in all directions and the blue light waves are scattered more than other colors because they are shorter. The blue color is also seen during sunsets and sunrises when the sun’s light is scattered off of particles in the atmosphere.
