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Asked by aajb355 to Cheryl, Christina, Daniel, George, Ivy on 16 Jan 2017. This question was also asked by Wilberforce.
Question: Explain why the sky is blue.
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George Mochamah answered on 16 Jan 2017:
I want us to reason together. Light from the sun is like a wave of energy, composed of different colours which also have different wavelength. Meaning, at the far end is the red light because it has the longest wavelength and at the other end is the blue and violet lights which have a much shorter wavelength. The shorter wavelengths are scattered more widely, while the blue light is scattered towards our eyes brightly than the other colours do and that is why we see the blue more prominently! Otherwise the sky is a mixture of many colours
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Cheryl Andisi answered on 16 Jan 2017:
Hi aajb355 and Wilberforce,
This question reminds me of a nursery school rhyme we used to sing
“I wonder why, the sky is blue! And why the wind is never seen! Who taught the birds…” I digress.
I am not a physicist but I believe it has something to do with how light of different wavelengths from the sun is scattered through air. Remember the colors of the rainbow?red, orange, yellow,green,blue, indigo and violet. The colors in the blue spectrum have a shorter wavelength compared to the reds and orange, making them more easily absorbed by gas molecules in the air. These gas molecules then radiate the light they have absorbed enabling us to see the sky as blue.
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