Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Why Is The Sky Blue?

Today's topic is explained
Using Physics :

Simple definition;
The blue colour of the sky is as a result of molecular scattering of atomic particles in the sky.

In details;
The interaction of sunlight with matter can result in one of three wave behaviors: absorption, transmission, and reflection. The atmosphere is a gaseous sea that contains a variety of types of particles; the two most common types of matter present in the atmosphere are gaseous nitrogen and oxygen. These particles are most effective in scattering the higher frequency and shorter wavelength portions of the visible light spectrum. This scattering process involves the absorption of a light wave by an atom followed by reemission of a light wave in a variety of directions. The amount of multidirectional scattering that occurs is dependent upon the frequency of the light. Atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen scatter violet light most easily, followed by blue light, green light, etc. So as white light (ROYGBIV) (red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet) from the sun passes through our atmosphere, the high frequencies (BIV) become scattered by atmospheric particles while the lower frequencies (ROY) are most likely to pass through the atmosphere without a significant alteration in their direction. This scattering of the higher frequencies of light illuminates the skies with light on the BIV end of the visible spectrum. Compared to blue light, violet light is most easily scattered by atmospheric particles. However, our eyes are more sensitive to light with blue frequencies. Thus, we view the skies as being blue in colour.

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