why is the color of sky is blue?
406696
Because it's not red!
672709
To answer this question, you should know that the white light is made up of seven different colors (violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red). When sunlight (which is white colored) hits the Earth's atmosphere the blue components of the white light bend so much that it seems like they surround the Earth causing the sky to look blue. \nThe seas llok blue because they act like a mirror and they reflect the sky. The sea color is darker than the sky because of the depth of the seas (Beer-Lambert's Law). The rivers are not suppose to be deep and that's why they don't appear blue. If human eyes were really strong then we could have seen that the rivers are slightly blue.
502400
The Earth's sky is blue because the air molecules (largely nitrogen\nand oxygen) are much smaller than the wavelength of light. When light\nencounters particles much smaller than its wavelength, the scattered\nintensity is inversely proportional to the 4'th power of the\nwavelength. This is called "Rayleigh scattering," and it means that\nhalf the wavelength is scattered with 2**4 = 16 times more intensity.\nThat's why the sky appears blue: the blue light is scattered some 16\ntimes more strongly than the red light. Rayleigh scattering is also\nthe reason why the setting Sun appears red: the blue light has been\nscattered away from the direct sunlight.\n\nThus, if the atmosphere of another planet is composed of a transparent\ngas or gases whose molecules are much smaller than the wavelength of\nlight, we would, in general, also expect the sky on that planet to\nhave a blue color.\n\nIf you want another color of the sky, you need bigger particles in the\nair. You need something bigger than molecules in the air---dust.\n\nDust particles can be many times larger than air molecules but still\nsmall enough to not fall out to the ground. If the dust particles are\nmuch larger than the wavelength of light, the scattered light will be\nneutral in color (i.e., white or gray)---this also happens in clouds\nhere on Earth, which consist of water droplets. If the dust particles\nare of approximately the same size as the wavelength of light, the\nsituation gets complex, and all sorts of interesting scattering\nphenomena may happen. This happens here on Earth from time to time,\nparticularly in desert areas, where the sky may appear white, brown,\nor some other color. Dust is also responsible for the pinkish sky on\nMars, as seen in the photographs returned from the Viking landers.\n\nIf the atmosphere contains lots of dust, the direct light from the Sun\nor Moon may occasionally get some quite unusual color. Sometimes,\ngreen and blue moons have been reported. These phenomena are quite\nrare though---they happen only "once in a blue moon...." :) The dust\nresponsible for these unusual color phenomena is most often volcanic\nin origin. When El Chicon erupted in 1982, this caused unusually\nstrongly colored sunsets in equatorial areas for more than one year.\nThe much bigger volcanic explosion at Krakatoa, some 110 years ago,\ncaused green and blue moons worldwide for a few years.\n\nOne possible exception to the above discussion is if the clouds on the\nplanet are composed of a strongly colored chemical. This might occur\non Jupiter, where the clouds are thought to contain sulfur, phosphorus,\nand/or various organic chemicals.\n\nIt's also worth pointing out that the light of the planet's primary is\nquite insignificant. Our eyes are highly adaptable to the dominating\nillumination and perceive it as "white," within a quite wide range of\npossible colors. During daytime, we perceive the light from the Sun\n(6000 K) as white, and at night we perceive the light from our\nincandescent lamps (2800 K, like a late, cool M star) as white. Only\nif we put these two lights side-by-side, at comparable intensities,\nwill we perceive a clear color difference.\n\nIf the Sun was a hot star (say of spectral type B), it's likely we\nstill would perceive its light as "white" and the sky's color as blue \n\nORange of the Moon is simply due to the reflection of light of the sun onto the moon. Its seems orange as simply as the colour of the sun looming on the Moon.
463892
There is no such as the "real" color of the sky. The reason the sky is blue during the day is because the color of the light that the sun shines is white. And as you may know, white is the presence of all color and black is the absence of color.\n\nSo, the white light that the sun emits contains every possible color of light.  Now, each color of light has a different wave length depending on where it is on the color spectrum.  Red light has the longest wave length and blue/violet light have the shortest.  And since blue light has the shortest wave length, you see more of it's waves.\n\n\nsorry... that's the best i can explain it
185884
Neither is blue. \n\nThe SKY\nThe blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. \n\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. \n\nThe Sea.\nParticles and solutes can absorb light, as in tea or coffee. Green algae in rivers and streams often lend a blue-green color. The red sea has occasional blooms of red Trichodesmium erythraeum algae. \nParticles in water can scatter light. The Colorado river is often muddy red because of suspended reddish silt in the water. Some mountain lakes and streams with finely gound rock, such as glacial flour, are tourquise. Light scattering by suspended matter is required in order that the blue light produced by water's absorption can return to the surface and be observed. Such scattering can also shift the spectrum of the emerging photons toward the green, a color often seen when water laden with suspended particles is observed. \nThe surface of seas and lakes often reflect blue skylight, making them appear bluer. [[[ Montana reflection.]]] The relative contribution of reflected skylight and the light scattered back from the depths is strongly dependent on observation angle.
336150
Why is the sky blue ?  Why is the sun yellow ? That is a very logical question guy please, lemme see um cause maybe JUST MAYBE if we do it standing up like you guys, how do I put this umm not a pretty picture right ?  so duh !
344653
First off why is the sky any color at all and not black?\nThe answer -- the presence of the atmosphere -- oxygen molecules absorb energy and release at pretty much a random angle(Rayleigh scattering). So the light from the sun is "diffused" around the atmosphere and when it reaches our eyes it come in from all directions -- creating the colored sky effect.\n\nNow on to the 2nd question why is the sky specifically blue. Blue is high energy color(it is created by high frequency waves) so it does not spread as much as other colors. In fact the sky is not uniform blue -- Come out of your house on a clear sunny day and you will see that the sky is the bluest directly above your head but it gets more and more white as you look toward horizon. This means that blue light diffuses the least creating blue appearance around the sun -- but as you look further from the sun more colors are visible creating the white effect. \nThe Sky may also be seen in weird colors like red and orange when the sun is at the sharp angle with the atmosphere(dusk and dawn).
178836
The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.\n\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.\n\nAs you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.
844556
Yes! Of course here in the UK it is not always 'blue' below the clouds! \n\nThe reason for the sky being blue is that as light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. \n\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. \n\nTo get a fuller explanation (if you can bear it!) see the link below.\n\nGood question!\n\nx
539871
in the summer the sky is blue because the atmosphere dullens the color of outer space but in the winter the sky is the color it is because of the water particles that are in the sky
117362
One meaning to this is that you did not check the archive of previously asked questions before you posted your question about the sky's color. This has been asked and answered almost 400 times so far here (see link below). \n\nHowever, the reason the sky appears blue (at least most of the daylight hours) is that the atmosphere is mostly oxygen and nitrogen, which are just the right size molecules to scatter the blue light, but let the other colors pass unimpeded. \n\nSo when you take the blue away from the mostly white sunlight, you get sorta yellow sunlight. \n\nAs the sun sets, the sunlight passes through more air, and more blue is scattered away, leaving the sunlight even less blue, that is, more orange. \n\nAs the sun sets even farther, even more blue is scattered away, and the sunlight appears red.
576573
The sky is blue partly because air scatters short-wavelength light in preference to longer wavelengths. Where the sunlight is nearly tangent to the Earth's surface, the light's path through the atmosphere is so long that much of the blue and even yellow light is scattered out, leaving the sun rays and the clouds it illuminates red, at sunrise and sunset.\n\nScattering and absorption are major causes of the attenuation of radiation by the atmosphere. Scattering varies as a function of the ratio of the particle diameter to the wavelength of the radiation. When this ratio is less than about one-tenth, Rayleigh scattering occurs in which the scattering coefficient varies inversely as the fourth power of the wavelength. At larger values of the ratio of particle diameter to wavelength, the scattering varies in a complex fashion described, for spherical particles, by the Mie theory; at a ratio of the order of 10, the laws of geometric optics begin to apply.\n\nIndividual gas molecules are too small to scatter light effectively. However, in a gas, the molecules move more or less independently of each-other, unlike in liquids and solids where the density is determined the molecule's sizes. So the densities of gases, such as pure air, are subject to statistical fluctuations. Significant fluctuations are much more common on a small scale. It is mainly these density fluctuations on a small (tens of nanometers) scale that cause the sky to be blue.
239803
As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.\n\nHowever, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. \n\nLink below explains more and has a diagram:
159646
The blueness of the sky is caused by sunlight scattering off particles in the atmosphere.  The intesity of the scattering is a strong function of the wavelength of light, so the blue light (one end of the spectrum) is observed more than red (the other end).
1089706
When transmitted light such as sunlight enters our atmosphere it collides with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The color with the shorter wavelength is scattered more by this collision. Because violet and blue are the shortest wavelengths the sky appears to be violet / blue. But because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light than they are violet light, we perceive the sky as blue.\n\nIt is because blue light from the sun strikes the air molecules and scatters and our eyes perceive it as blue.\n\nBlue in sunlight collides with air molecules and our eyes see it as blue.
59243
The light during the day comes from our star, the sun. The sunlight has to travel through air to get to us. The sunlight looks white, but it has many colors in it (for example, a prism or a rainbow breaks the sunlight into its colors so we can see them). \n\nSome of the blue part of the sunlight cannot go through the air without getting bounced around first by the air, and so it makes it look like the blue is coming from the air in the sky instead of the sun. That is why the sky looks blue.
505255
The sky is air.  Air is transparent, mostly.  However, air does slightly bend very high frequencies of visible light.  These frequencies include purple and blue.  This makes the sky appear blue.\n\nWhen the Sun is near the horizon at sunrise and sunset, its light is passing through much more air (about 4000 miles' worth, instead of the overhead air that is about 50 miles thick), and much more light is bent out.  This is why the sky turns red.