whyse the sky blue – Materials Zone

Question: whyse the sky blue
- Keywords:
- Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more about:
  
  blue
  
  sky
Asked by Black dragon to Elizabeth, James, Martin, Martin, Rob on 12 Mar 2015.
- James Coombs OBrien answered on 12 Mar 2015:
  
  The sky is blue because of water or moisture in the air that scatters light.
  Air is mainly made up of nitrogen and oxygen but there is also a lot of water in it.
  Water reflects blue light, that’s why the sky and the sea looks blue!
  
  Thanks for your question!
- Elizabeth Cooper answered on 13 Mar 2015:
  
  The sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight.
- Martin Ward answered on 16 Mar 2015:
  
  Yes, as the other answers say scattering from small particles (and droplets) in the atmosphere make the sky appear blue. Also a lot of the stuff (water etc.) in the atmosphere will absorb (soak up) red light more than blue, so the blue has a better chance of reach us on the ground.
- Martin Wieczysty answered on 16 Mar 2015:
  
  Water droplets in the atmosphere scatter the light. The suns rays cause the electrons in water molecules to shimmy from side to side, and this causes light of a certain colour to be scattered.

Question: whyse the sky blue