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Asked by anon-238824 to Hannah, binuraj, Alice, Chris on 18 Mar 2020. This question was also asked by anon-238295.
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Binuraj Menon answered on 18 Mar 2020:
Hi Made389
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.
On the other hand the ocean also looks blue because red, orange and yellow (long wavelength light) are absorbed more strongly by water than is blue (short wavelength light). So when white light from the sun enters the ocean, it is mostly the blue that gets returned.
In short it is the shorter wavelength of blue light that causes this effect.
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Hannah Blyth answered on 19 Mar 2020:
Binuraj’s answer is great 🙂 especially as the sky isn’t always blue (think sunrise and sunsets, reds oranges…). As sunlight touches the atmosphere, molecules in the air scatter the bluer light but let the red light pass through. This is called Rayleigh scattering. At sunrise and sunset, we see a much redder sun. This is because the sunlight is passing through a thicker layer of our atmosphere. This scatters the blue and green light, allowing the redder light to pass through. This link takes you to a very comprehensive answer 🙂 http://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-is-the-sky-blue-and-where-does-it-start-81165
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