Book 4, Question 76 · Video
Why Is the Sky Blue?
Sunlight is a mix of all colors! Tiny air molecules bounce the short blue waves around much more than the other colors, so blue light fills the sky from every direction. That bounc
Read the full answer →What Crafty Clover says in this video
Intro
Hey there, curious minds! I'm Crafty Clover! Let's discover something amazing. Why is the sky blue?
The Big Idea
Sunlight is a mix of all colors! Tiny air molecules bounce the short blue waves around much more than the other colors, so blue light fills the sky from every direction. That bouncing is called scattering.
Sunlight Arrives
Step one: sunlight arrives. Sunlight looks white, but it is really a mix of all the colors of the rainbow, each one traveling as a different kind of wave. Red waves are long, and blue waves are short.
Air Gets in the Way
Step two: the air gets in the way, and blue bounces. The sky is full of tiny molecules of gas. When sunlight bumps into them, the short blue waves are scattered the most, and they zigzag all around the sky. The other colors mostly go straight through, so they bounce around much less.
The Sky Glows Blue
Step three: the sky glows blue, and your eyes see it. Scattered blue light comes at you from every direction. So when you look up, away from the sun, the whole sky looks blue. The leftover path from the sun still looks bright.
A Closer Look
Let's take a closer look at scattering! Sunlight streams in from the sun. It bumps into air molecules, and the blue light scatters in all directions. Then some of that scattered blue reaches your eye.
Quick Facts
Quick facts! The sky is not a painted dome. It is scattered sunlight. Smoke and dust can make the blue look milky or brown. Astronauts above most of the air see a black sky and a blue Earth. Never stare at the sun to check the blue. Look away from it.
Think Like a Scientist
Now, think like a scientist! On a sunny day, look at the sky away from the sun, never at it. Is it the same blue near the horizon? What is doing the bouncing? Sketch the colors you see from overhead to the horizon.
Outro
A sky full of bouncing blue, just for you! Crafty Clover can be found on Amazon Books, Google Bookstore, and Apple Books. Available for purchase or download! Bye for now!