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    Question ID:   4009         Current Version: 1
Question: Why is the sky blue?
Category: Science > Physics
Keywords: color, Rayleigh scattering, sky, blue
Type: why
Rating:(0 ratings)    Views: 395    Discussions: 0   In Watch Lists: 1  

 
    Answer:

Blue and Violet are scattered the most in the atmosphere compared to the rest of the colors produced from the Sun. Violet is scattered the most, but our eyes are more sensitive to blue. Thus, we see a blue sky.

The sun emits visible light. The visible light is made up of different colors from violet (shortest wavelength) to red (longest wavelength). The atmosphere is made of tiny molecules (nitrogen, oxygen, dust, etc.) which allows the most scattering to occur with the shortest wavelengths, which for light are violet and blue. This kind of scattering is called Rayleigh scattering. Rayleigh scattering by definition is "a scattering process produced by spherical particles whose radii are smaller than about one-tenth the wavelength of the scattered radiation" (Glossary of Meteorology). So as light encounters atmospheric particles, the violet and blue colors of the color spectrum is scattered much more than the colors that have a longer wavelength (red). Since violet has the shortest wavelength, the sky should be violet, but because our eyes are more sensitive to blue we see a blue sky. 

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