Heath McKenzie brings brilliant fun and entertainment to the science of light and colour, starting with his audience-pleasing WHY? question. His illustrations and humor will surely become firm favorites among children of all ages.
Sky BLUE took an early advantage, when Kerr sent a pass to Raquel Rodriguez who deftly maneuvered past two Portland defenders before beating Franch for her goal.
Why is the sky blue blue?
The sky looks blue due to light’s physical properties. When sunlight passes through our atmosphere, its photons collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules that scatter (refract) visible wavelengths in different ways; longwave light waves like red, orange, and yellow pass straight through, while shorter ones like blue and violet scatter more intensely – our eyes interpret this refraction and see the color blue as a result.
Lord Rayleigh developed a mathematical formula in 1871 to describe one subset of these interactions, showing how when atmospheric particles are much smaller than wavelengths of radiation striking them, they scatter energy inversely as the fourth power of its wavelength – meaning violet and blue wavelengths scatter more efficiently than longer ones which give rise to Sunlight.
Scattering processes are the reason you cannot see a multicolored sky in clear weather, even under ideal conditions such as low humidity, atmospheric dust and haze levels. Blue light from the Sun rising or setting keeps getting scattered away from our eyes as it traverses across the sky; only under ideal circumstances (low humidity, atmospheric dust and haze levels below 20%) can you witness its pure Celeste (RGB 178,255; hex code B2FFFF).
At sunset or sunrise, when the Sun is close to the horizon it must pass through vast amounts of atmosphere; therefore bluer light that scatters more effectively is likely to get lost than redder lights which don’t scatter as efficiently.
However, the reddish hue of the sky at these times is not caused by an absence of violet light; in fact, there is plenty of violet escaping from our atmosphere that needs to be detected by your eyes in order to know its color. Your eyes have three types of cones designed specifically for color detection as well as monochromatic rods which help detect light in low-light situations.
Why is the sky blue green?
The color of our skies depends on the gases and particles present in our atmosphere. When sunlight passes through it, it encounters gas molecules which scatter its light in various directions; light nearer the blue end of the spectrum tends to get scattered more strongly than other hues – thus giving rise to blue skyscapes.
Blue ends of the spectrum tend to scatter more strongly due to gas molecules being smaller than visible light wavelengths and easily bumping into each other, scattering and absorbing light that hits them – which then reflects off them and back into our eyes, where it appears as blue hues.
As you ascend into the atmosphere, fewer gas molecules scatter blue light rays; this causes the sky above you to appear darker or even bluish-violet in color; therefore polarising sunglasses make the sky seem much deeper and vibrant.
Why does the sky appear blue during sunrise and sunset? Because the Sun is lower in the sky at these times, sunlight that reaches your eye must travel further through the atmosphere before reaching you; shorter blue wavelengths must pass through more atmosphere before they can reach you while longer red and orange wavelengths may bypass some layers.
Water molecules have the ability to absorb long wavelengths of sunlight, and when sunlight reaches open waters it often results in the distinctive blue-green colors found in oceans and rivers. In fact, this same phenomenon causes clouds to appear blue as they reflect off the sky above.
Why the skies on other planets appear blue is due to differences between atmospheric molecules on each planet, their structure and size, and those seen here on Earth. Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere, its surface does not appear blue — although it does look lit by stars; but on some other worlds, their atmospheres may be thicker with molecules arranged differently, producing colors similar to Earth’s blues and greens but appearing purple or brown on those other worlds.
Why is the sky blue purple?
Purple skies may turn up for various reasons, most having to do with weather. For instance, during winter when the sun is low in the sky it may appear bluer due to being scattered more by air particles than red light is.
As it rains, the sky may also take on a darker hue due to reduced water particles in the atmosphere allowing light to spread easily; this results in darker skies due to limited light diffusion.
Another cause of purple skies could be caused by volcanic activity. An eruption can send out clouds of ash into the air that scatter sunlight differently; sometimes this makes for an atmospheric effect which turns the skies purple in hue.
There are other factors that could cause the sky to turn purple as well. For instance, being at a higher elevation will result in thinner air which reduces distances between you and the stars above you; this allows them to become scattered more by atmospheric particles than they would be if at a lower elevation. This results in brighter stars looking bluer due to diffraction.
One additional cause of sky turning blue purple can be explained by Rayleigh scattering, which occurs when gas molecules in the air are smaller than the wavelength of light and scatter all its colors more heavily than any others – blue light being shorter wavelength than violet and green lights, as such phenomena amplify it more intensely than its counterparts.
If you are blessed to witness a purple sky, take every opportunity to appreciate its splendor. It’s an extremely rare occurrence and its beauty can be truly breathtaking; just be wary if fires or volcanic eruptions appear nearby – these could pose potential safety threats!