Why is the sky blue?
Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Iwind in Science
Transmitted light from the sun is made up of a spectrum of colors. The longest wavelengths we can see is on the red end of the spectrum and the shortest wavelengths we can see are on the violet end. When the light transmitted from the sun enters our atmosphere it collides with atoms in our atmosphere, mostly oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The light is scattered by this collision, and the shorter the wavelength the more the light is scattered.
As mentioned before the shortest wavelengths of light we can see is violet. However, our eyes are more sensitive to blue light than they are to violet light, so we perceive the sky as blue. Blue light also has a short wavelength and is to the violet end of the spectrum. Whichever direction you look, some of the scattered blue light will reach you, more so than any other color of the spectrum. This is why the sky is blue.
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