• Question: why is the sky blue?

    Asked by anon-193397 to Morwenna, Jamal, iainstaniland, Heidi, Emma on 11 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Emma Crawford

      Emma Crawford answered on 11 Nov 2018:

      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.
      See more here: https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/en/

    • Photo: Heidi Gardner

      Heidi Gardner answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      A clear cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. Blue is scattered more than other colours because it travels as shorter, smaller waves so we see a blue sky most of the time.
      When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight.

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