physics question

Question

1. A child asks you very politely why the sky appears blue on a bright and sunny day.
2. What would you say to him or her? They then go on to ask about why the sunset
3. appears red when it normally looks white when it is high in the sky. Do your best to
4. explain both of these phenomenon, using physics terms and vocabulary in your
5. explanation.

Answer 1

Why is the sky blue? The simple answer is because blue is the color of our air. The sky is blue for the same reason that a leaf is green or a rose is red. But when the sun sets, the sky can turn red too. What's going on here? The light we see in the sky, all starts with the sun. When sunlight reflects through raindrops, we see a rainbow. So all the colors of the rainbow are in the sun's light! When sunlight shines through a clear sky, the molecules in the air, mostly nitrogen, scatter the blue light all over the sky. But when the sun is low on the horizon, it's light passes through a lot more air on its way to us. So much of the blue light gets scattered away that we see the light that's left over, which includes the beautiful reds, oranges and rosy colors of a sunrise or sunset.