The sky appears blue due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. Sunlight, which is white light composed of all colors of the rainbow, enters the Earth's atmosphere. The tiny particles in the air, such as nitrogen and oxygen molecules, scatter the shorter wavelengths of light (blue and violet) more effectively than the longer wavelengths (red and orange). This scattered blue light reaches our eyes from all directions, making the sky appear blue.
Here are some additional details:
- Scattering: Imagine throwing a ball at a wall with many small holes. The ball will bounce off the wall in various directions, getting scattered. Similarly, sunlight is scattered by tiny particles in the air.
- Wavelengths: Different colors of light have different wavelengths. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light. Shorter wavelengths are scattered more easily by the particles in the air.
- Other colors: Although blue light is scattered the most, violet light is scattered even more. However, our eyes are more sensitive to blue light, so we see a predominantly blue sky.
