Why is the Sky Blue? Understanding Rayleigh Scattering Explained

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The sky appears blue due to Rayleigh scattering, which is more effective at scattering shorter wavelengths of light, particularly blue, compared to longer wavelengths like red. This scattering occurs because the intensity of scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength, meaning blue light is scattered much more than red light. As a result, blue light is visible from all areas of the sky, while direct sunlight appears white. The phenomenon is well-explained by the principles of light scattering in the atmosphere. Understanding Rayleigh scattering is essential for grasping why the sky has its characteristic color.
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Hello everyone!

Can anyone explain why sky is blue?

Thanks.
 
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Because the atmosphere is better at scattering blue light than light of other colors.

- Warren
 
Welcome to PF!

Hello kambez! Welcome to PF! :smile:

It's because scattering is inversely prooprotional to the fourth power of wavelength … see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering#Rayleigh_scattering_from_molecules" …
The strong wavelength dependence of the scattering (~λ−4) means that blue light is scattered much more readily than red light. In the atmosphere, this results in blue wavelengths being scattered to a greater extent than longer (red) wavelengths, and so one sees blue light coming from all regions of the sky. Direct radiation (by definition) is coming directly from the Sun. Rayleigh scattering is a good approximation to the manner in which light scattering occurs within various media for which scattering particles have a small size parameter.
 
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