Off Topic > Off Topic
Why is the sky blue?
WRB852:
I'm not asking if you are able to look it up, I want to know if you honestly know why out of curiosity.
Cheemo:
Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth's atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.
Closer to the horizon, the sky fades to a lighter blue or white. The sunlight reaching us from low in the sky has passed through even more air than the sunlight reaching us from overhead. As the sunlight has passed through all this air, the air molecules have scattered and rescattered the blue light many times in many directions. Also, the surface of Earth has reflected and scattered the light. All this scattering mixes the colors together again so we see more white and less blue.
Fine :/
Chrono:
--- Quote from: WRB852 on September 21, 2009, 05:15:34 PM ---I'm not asking if you are able to look it up
--- End quote ---
Ladios:
Because bluelight bends differently than redlight, when it hits the atmosphere the blue bends more so that the sky appears blue. Basically same thing as in a rainbow, except you only get one color, and its using the entire atmosphere instead of just one water droplet. (yay meteorology)
[edit]
Also, if you wanna see something cool, get polarized sunglasses and look up at the sky at like say 30degrees off the horizon. Twist the glasses and you see the sky lose its blue. It's really awesome :P
oromis:
I was taught why last year...i forgot a little, but i know its related to why the blue section on a prism is bigger than the rest. doesnt air and water molecules in the air act as a prism, filtering all light except blue?