Is the sky blue because of reflection of light or refraction of light??

Question

Is the sky blue because of reflection of light or refraction of light??

Answer 1

the sky is blue because of the reflection off the sun on the ocean then up to the sky.

i think maybe like 10% right that something might come from space

Answer 2

srjh is correct.

Here's a detailed explanation:

The technically correct answer is that the blue light is scattered by the air molecules in the atmosphere (referred to as Rayleigh scattering).  The blue wavelength is scattered more, because the scatteing effect increases with the inverse of the fourth power of the incident wavelength.

OK, but I've known science graduates who don't understand what this means.

Here's my attempt at an answer without too much physics:

I think most people know that sunlight is made up of light of several different wavelengths, and can be split up into the colours of the rainbow. Blue light has the shorter wavelength, and red the longest wavelength.

When sunlight hits the molecules in the atmosphere, the light is absorbed; causing the molecules vibrate and and give off, or 're-emit' the light. Because the molecules vibrate in all directions, the light is emitted in all directions (called 'scattering'). Because the blue wavelength is shorter and more energetic, it reacts much more with the air molecules than the red and yellow wavelengths; which tend to pass straight through, or get absorbed by the atmosphere (which warms the air and gives rise to the world's climate).

Because the blue radiation is re-emitted from the air molecules in all directions, and it also gets 'bounced around' from molecule to molecules in this way, it seems to us looking from the ground that the blue light is coming from everywhere; hence the sky seems blue. And of course; we are looking upwards through several kilometres of air; so there are plenty of molecules to scatter the blue light.

Near sunset, because of the low angle of the sunlight, the blue light has already brrn scattered away, and we see more of the red and yellow wavelendth, hence the colours of the setting sun.

BTW: The sky isn't blue because of a reflection of the sea. its the other way round. As well as reflecting the blue from the sky at the surface, sea water also scatters the blue light. The blue colour of the sea is a little more complicated, because as well as the water molecules scattering the blue light, the water absorbs more of the red and yellow wavelengths, leaving the blue part of the spectrum, as well as part of the green (which is why deep water can appear bluish-green).

This scattering effect is even stronger with ice; which results in the intense blue colour we see if we look down a crevasse in a glacier, or down a hole in the snow made by a ski stock..

My thanks to various contributers for correcting me on some details.

For complete, scientific explanations, look up 'blue sky' in Wikipedia, and follow through the references.

Answer 3

Neither, it's actually scattering.

Blue light is scattered more than red, so the sky appears blue.

Answer 4

I was thining that it was blue,because you know how space is a dark color and the sun reflects it and makes blue.

Im pretty sure thats right if you think about it.. (:

Hopefully i was a help to you!

Answer 5

Refraction.

Answer 6

Refraction of light, notice the more blue the sky is, the more yellow the sun appears.  The blue light is refracted out.

Answer 7

Refraction;

Answer 8

yes.

Answer 9

refraction - only the blue comes through