The world is our home and we have lived here since the day we existed. Like our ancestors, we are used to seeing a blue sky when we lift our heads, and often we don’t even question this situation. Let’s think with the naivety of a child and why does the sky seem blue? Let’s ask. We answer this question according to a study published in Scientific American.

†Why does the sky seem blue?” and “Why does everything turn red-orange at sunset?” The answer to the question is the same; Sun.

Where it all started: the sun

Thanks to the sun, the heat and light source of our world, we can live here with peace of mind. We look up and see the sun in yellow-orange, the sky blue, the clouds white, the sea and oceans blue, and when the sun goes down, we see red-orange everywhere. Really none of these colors there is only white.

Both the sun and the light from the sun have a white color. However, this white is not like the white we know. Because the white that sunlight has, It hides all the colors we see in the rainbow. In other words, the orange, red, yellow, green, blue, dark blue and purple colors of the rainbow that we see in rainy weather are hidden in the white color of the sun.

If there’s such a wide color palette in sunlight, why don’t we always see them? Because for us to see like a raindrop we need a reflective prism. That’s why rainbows appear after rain. Agree, why is the sky blue Isn’t it very colorful?

Actually, all the colors were scattered, but they gave the first place to blue:

Light, It starts its journey from the sun and it is taking strong steps towards our world. But it encounters an area not found on many planets, the atmosphere.

We can think of sunlight as an electromagnetic wave that oscillates up and down. When light crosses the atmosphere meet air molecules. When it encounters particles called electrons and protons in air molecules, scattering occurs and light is scattered everywhere.

During scattering, sunlight, which we know as white, is separated into the hidden colors of orange, red, yellow, green, blue, dark blue, and purple. spread from a single spectrum of light each of these color components has a different speed than the others. As we see every time we look at the sky, blue is the fastest of these color components.

Why is the sky blue? Because blue is the fastest color:

When sunlight passes through the atmosphere and meets air molecules, it separates into colors and each color has a specific color. is spreading rapidly in our world. Of these colors, blue and purple are the fastest. We can call the speed of these colors as blue and purple as the fastest; blue, green, yellow, orange and finally red.

The blue component of the light spectrum shorter wavelength and higher frequency owner. The acceleration of the charged frequency is proportional to the square of the frequency; The intensity of the scattered light is also proportional to the square of the acceleration obtained. If you are not a theoretical physicist, it can be a bit tiring to do such a process, but we can say that blue is the fastest as a result of the process.

Thanks to its blue color, its speed and high frequency so there is no possibility for other colors! It is quickly spreading around the world. Therefore, when we look at the sky, we see a dominant blue color. But purple is just as fast as blue. So, where’s the purple color and the other colors?

The sky is actually not completely blue: hey….

The heaviest light wave, the red 750 nanometer, the fastest light waves. blue and purple are 400 nanometers. To visualize these dimensions, it is useful to say that a human hair is about 50 thousand nanometers. Where are the other colors?

A light that does not meet a mirror, prism, or very dense gas molecule continues on its straight path. sunlight too it goes straight, but Once they come into contact with the atmosphere, the color components, which are not as fast as blue and purple, enter our world as white, without disappearing.

The reason why the purple color, which quickly spreads to the world by scattering with blue, is invisible, is we, that is, humans. The human eye is purple, It is not as sensitive to the blue color as it is. That’s why we can’t see the purple color, some of which has been absorbed by the upper atmosphere, but we know it’s there somewhere. Just like any other color.

Where do the other colors of our world come from?

Blue, which continues on its way without experiencing any effect, reflecting off the seas and oceans This also makes them appear blue. The light, which the dense water molecule in the clouds cannot scatter, remains as white as it came. Since the sunlight coming from the horizon line is exposed to much more sky, even its blue is scattered and becomes white. Therefore, the vanishing point is whiter.

Well, why is everything red-orange when the sun goes down, take on a romantic color? Of course, people add the phenomenon of romance to these colors. The reason for the red-orange color is the insufficiently distributed sunlight. When the sun sets, the light is not scattered much in the atmosphere, so the red color reaches us. However, because the blue color quickly dissipates, it becomes invisible at that moment.

We are sorry if the sunsets offer a beautiful view where you live, your air is very polluted. Because aerosol sulphate, organic carbon or mineral dust particles in polluted air accelerate the spread of the blue component. Because the blue color disappears quickly, the sun appears even redder. This is what they have to say, everything has a price.

The answer to the question of why the sky looks blue is not only giving life, but also colors. It is the sun that makes life even more beautiful. It’s hard to imagine what color the sky will be for future generations to see if we don’t take good care of our world and continue to damage the atmosphere.