Book 1, Question 51 · Video
Why Is the Sky Blue? A Trick Light Plays in the Air!
Look up on a sunny day and you are seeing a cool trick of light. Sunlight looks white, but it is made of all colors mixed together. When it passes through the air, tiny bits of air
Read the full answer →What Crafty Clover says in this video
Intro
Hi! I'm Crafty Clover! Let's discover something amazing. Why is the sky blue?
The Big Idea
The sky looks blue because of a cool trick light plays in the air! And it all starts with sunlight.
All Colors
Step one: sunlight is all colors. Sunlight looks white, but it's made of all the colors of the rainbow mixed together: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, all traveling together!
Air Scatters Blue
Step two: air scatters blue more. When sunlight passes through the air, it bumps into tiny bits of air, called molecules. They scatter blue light in every direction, much more than the other colors.
A Blue Bowl
Step three: your eyes see a blue bowl. Blue light reaches your eyes from all over the sky, so the sky looks like a big blue bowl overhead! Violet scatters even more, but sunlight has less violet, and our eyes are better at seeing blue.
A Closer Look
Let's take a closer look at sunlight traveling through the air! Light travels from the Sun, through miles of air, to your eyes. Red and yellow light mostly travel straight through. But blue light gets bounced all around by the air. Some of that scattered blue heads toward your eyes, from every direction!
Quick Facts
Quick facts! At sunset, sunlight travels through more air. Most of the blue is scattered away, so the Sun looks red and orange! On the Moon, there's no air, so the sky is black, even in the daytime! On Mars, the daytime sky looks butterscotch, but sunsets look blue! And clouds look white, because their water droplets scatter all colors about equally.
Think Like a Scientist
Now, think like a scientist! Look up at the sky with the Sun behind you. Never look straight at the Sun! Where is the sky the deepest blue? Is it paler near the horizon? At sunset, what colors appear? What do you notice?
Outro
The sky is blue because the air scatters blue sunlight all around us! Crafty Clover can be found on Amazon Books, Google Bookstore, and Apple Books. Available for purchase or download! Bye for now!