• Question: Why is the sky blue?

    Asked by to Edward, Ian, Mathew, Naomi, sakshisharda on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by , , .
    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Great question, Aimee!

      When sunlight reaches Earth’s atmosphere, it’s scattered by gas particles. Visible light is made of different colours which have different wavelengths (you may have seen this when shining lights through a prism). Blue light travels in shorter wavelengths than other colours so is scattered more, which is why the sky looks blue.

      When the sun is further away at sunset, even more of the blue light is scattered, and this allows more red and orange wavelengths to reach your eyes which is why you get red sunsets

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