Why is the sky blue?
Why is the sky blue?
user
Blue is the color of light with the shortest wavelengths, between the violet end and the green end of the spectrum.  That part of the spectrum is more easily absorbed by water in the atmosphere.  That means that it is not scattered as much by the atmosphere and gets to us directly, without having to reflect off of dust and other objects.  That makes it the brightest color of light.
assistant
What is Rayleigh scattering?
user
Rayleigh scattering is the process by which light interacts with gas atoms and molecules, and is responsible for creating the blue color of the sky.  Atoms and molecules interact with light because it has a property called “momentum” and the atoms have an amount of “kinetic energy” that will be transferred to the light and change the path of the light as it goes through the atmosphere.
assistant
I wonder what color the sky really is.
user
If you were to look at the sky in a wavelength that didn’t interact with the atmosphere, you might see a dark sky, as it would not have been scattered.  Some astronomers have thought about this and produced pictures of what the stars would look like in that situation, where the light is unscattered.
assistant
So do we really live in darkness>
user
The Earth is illuminated by sunlight, but if there weren’t water in the atmosphere, it would also be lit by starlight.  The earth is not, in fact, shrouded in darkness, and there are dark spots in the light.
assistant
Do you think color is subjective?
user
Our perception of colors is definitely subjective.  We perceive the color of the sky as blue because the sky is blue, but it is also possible to make the sky look brown or purple if the blue light isn’t scattered.
assistant
What makes the colors of other objects?
user
The color of an object depends on the color of the light it reflects.  The color of the light is affected by the object, however, if the object is reflecting only one wavelength of light.  If an object only reflects red light, it will appear to be red.
assistant
Are pigments just wavelengths of light being emitted in a physical form?
user
Yes.  Pigments are molecules that reflect light of specific wavelengths in a specific direction.  Pigments have been manufactured in labs by scientists and are also made by naturally occurring chemical reactions in living organisms.
assistant
Could the entire sky ever be a giant rainbow?
user
If the atmosphere reflected all of the light that came from the sun, the sky would look just like a rainbow.
assistant
Isn't the angle of the sun important when making a rainbow?
user