Why is the sky blue?

[edro]

...reading a "Beyong Einstein" book about physics. I really like physics, probably becuase I never took it in high school.

So I knew it had something to do with the color blue being refracted easier than all other colors.

It is apparently because our atmosphere refracts the blue light easiest when the sun is high in the air. When the sun sets, the angle from the sun to your eye is lower on the horizon, so the light has to pass through more air, cutting out all by red tones, because red is the lowest frequency of light.

Nifty.

(I know, I know... YOU already knew that. Well I didn't.)

 

[wfbberzerker]

not true! its because blue flames are hotter. when the sun is higher up, its shining more directly on the atmosphere, so the atmosphere burns a nice, clear blue. when the sun sets, it isn't shining directly so the flames are redder.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: edro13
...reading a "Beyong Einstein" book about physics. I really like physics, probably becuase I never took it in high school.

So I knew it had something to do with the color blue being refracted easier than all other colors.

It is apparently because our atmosphere refracts the blue light easiest when the sun is high in the air. When the sun sets, the angle from the sun to your eye is lower on the horizon, so the light has to pass through more air, cutting out all by red tones, because red is the lowest frequency of light.

Nifty.

(I know, I know... YOU already knew that. Well I didn't.)

Duuuh.... you forgot to mention that it's specifically due to the high nitrogen and oxygen content in our atmosphere.

 

[So]

-----And Now You Know (TM)----*
:'

 

[MacBaine]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
not true! its because blue flames are hotter. when the sun is higher up, its shining more directly on the atmosphere, so the atmosphere burns a nice, clear blue. when the sun sets, it isn't shining directly so the flames are redder.

cute

 

[jdini76]

I thought it was because God painted it that way :frown:

 

[Squisher]

Where does your lap go when you stand up?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Why Does The Sun Shine?

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: TuxDave

Originally posted by: edro13
...reading a "Beyong Einstein" book about physics. I really like physics, probably becuase I never took it in high school.

So I knew it had something to do with the color blue being refracted easier than all other colors.

It is apparently because our atmosphere refracts the blue light easiest when the sun is high in the air. When the sun sets, the angle from the sun to your eye is lower on the horizon, so the light has to pass through more air, cutting out all by red tones, because red is the lowest frequency of light.

Nifty.

(I know, I know... YOU already knew that. Well I didn't.)

Duuuh.... you forgot to mention that it's specifically due to the high nitrogen and oxygen content in our atmosphere.

DING DING DING!!!

Sysadmin

 

[Metron]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Why Does The Sun Shine?

Maybe because it's a hot nucular *smirk* fusion reaction...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Metron

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Why Does The Sun Shine?

Maybe because it's a hot nucular *smirk* fusion reaction...

No TMBG fans in the thread?

 

[ggavinmoss]

Because it's a mass of incandescant gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace.

-geoff

 

[Brutuskend]

So you can tell UP from DOWN

 

[Amorphus]

So how come clouds are white, then?


I take it there's no entrance exam to be a dad, huh? :frown:

 

[Amorphus]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
So you can tell UP from DOWN

The sky is blue because all the other colors are taken. Grass is green, flowers are yellow and red, the only color left is blue!


Anyone ever watched Arthur on a whim?

 

[MadPeriot]

I thought it was the reflection of the ocean?

 

[sillymofo]

Wrong... it's the freaking dust and smoke that gives you the nice color of sunset that we all enjoy.

 

[Anubis]

Light is made up of electromagnetic waves.

The distance between 2 crests in this wave is called the wavelength.

White light contains all the colors of the rainbow.

The amount of light scattered for any given colour depends on the wavelength of that colour.

All the colors in white light have different wavelengths.

Red light has the longest wavelength.

The wavelength of blue light is about half that of red light.

This difference in wavelength causes blue light to be scattered nearly ten times more than red light. Lord Rayleigh studied this phenomena in detail. It is caused the Tyndall effect or Rayleigh scattering.

Lord Rayleigh also calculated that even without smoke and dust in the atmosphere, the oxygen and nitrogen molecules would still cause the sky to appear blue because of scattering.

When blue light waves try to go straight through an oxygen and nitrogen molecules, its light is scattered in all directions because of this collision.

This scattered blue light is what makes the sky blue.

All other colors (with longer wavelengths than blue light) are scattered too.

Blue light's short wavelength causes it to be scattered the most.

(The shorther the wavelength of the color, the more that color gets scattered by the atmosphere)

Actually, violet has the shortest wavelength of all colors. Violet is scattered even more than blue light. However, our eyes are much more sensitive to see blue than violet, therefore we see the sky as blue.

Very little visible light is absorbed by the atmosphere.

 

[Anubis]

and to answer the sunset question

Light from the sun has to travel through much more atmosphere compared to when the sun is overhead from us.

Blue light and all the other colors are scattered around (and diluted) so much by all this atmosphere that only red, orange and yellow light remains visible.

Light is not scattered just by the atmosphere itself (oxygen and nitrogen). It is more correct to say that light is scattered by the particles in the atmosphere.

The particles in the atmosphere are mainly:

oxygen,
nitrogen,
clouds containing:
liquid water,
water vapor (water in gas from),
ice (frozen water)
snow (water in gas form that is frozen).
pollution.

(Red, orange and yellow light has the longest wavelengths and is least affected by 'bumping' into oxygen atoms in the atmosphere.)

The red, orange and yellow you see at sunsets reached your eyes more or less in a straight line directly from the sun.

By comparison, the blue sky is from billions of scattered (bounced around) reflections of blue light coming from all directions.

 

[sillymofo]

Man... have you ever look at the sun... on weed?

 

[TuxDave]

Anubis... you plagiarizer!!!!

http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why-is-the-sky-blue.html

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: TuxDave
Anubis... you plagiarizer!!!!

http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why-is-the-sky-blue.html

google is easy to use isnt it

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: Anubis

Originally posted by: TuxDave
Anubis... you plagiarizer!!!!

http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why-is-the-sky-blue.html

google is easy to use isnt it