sometimes we are so busy asking big questions and deconstructing complicated
answers that we forget to ask the simple ones too often people take their
surroundings at face value with the comfort familiarity meaning people
forget to ask why things are the way they are if the sky turned a bright
yellow tomorrow we would look up and take notice wanting an answer as to why
but how many of us know why the sky looks the way it does day to day what is
it blue hello and welcome back to life's biggest questions
I'm your host Rebecca Folgate and today we're asking why is the sky blue you may
be pleased to know that we do have an answer for you before we launch into
this video I just want to ask you guys to hit the thumbs up button if you like
our content also why not click on that big and beautiful notification bell if
you want to be the first to hear a big answer so before we tell you why the sky
is blue I thought we could dispel a few false rumors some fake news about the
reason for our beautiful Blue Horizon some people say the sky is blue because
of sunlight reflected off the ocean and back up into the sky obviously that's
not the case as the sky is blue everywhere not just by the sea others
say that the sky is blue because of the water in our atmosphere but again that
isn't true either the sky is just as blue and dry atmospheres as it is in
Tampa climates so why then what makes the sky blue well white light is
actually made up of all of the colors of the rainbow red orange yellow green blue
indigo and violet each color that makes up light travel in waves with red light
being the longest wave and blue light being much shorter light travels in a
straight line unless it's reflected by a mirror bent by a prism or scattered by
molecules and gases light that reaches the Earth from the Sun is scattered in
every direction by the gases and particles that make up our atmosphere
because of its smaller waves blue light is far more easily scattered than other
colors this Gaia's bluest when the Sun is high in
our line of vision those of you who know a thing or two about light waves may be
wondering why the sky isn't violet if small waves are the most easily
scattered red is the biggest light wave and the waves gets smaller as you work
the rate down the rainbow leaving violet with the smallest of the bunch so why
isn't the sky purple well that is to do with the human eye which is much more
susceptible to receiving blue light than it is violet light it's just much easier
for us to see on top of that a lot of the smaller violet wavelengths are
absorbed in high atmospheres you may wonder why the sky seems more blue
directly above you and less blue at the edge of the horizon well this is because
of the sunlight reaching us from low in the sky has passed through more air than
the sunlight reaching us from overhead here molecules have scattered the blue
light then scattered them all over again in many different directions on top of
that the surface of the earth also works to absorb reflect and scatter more
lights making a pair more white at the edge of the horizon of course this sky
isn't always blue at night it's black no prizes for guessing why that is but why
is the sky red and orange when the Sun is setting that is because the light is
passing through more of the atmosphere to reach your eyes on top of that
localized particles like dust pollution or salt scatter away the blue light
further both of these things mean that your eyes pick up red and yellow light
early in the morning or late in the day one example have you ever noticed that a
sunset pier is more vivid over the ocean this is because of the increased salt
particles in the air a fun fact then a question to round off this video the fun
fact is that the sky on Mars would also appear blue because our neighbor has a
similar atmosphere to us now the Viking Mars Landers in the seventies showed the
Martian sky as red bliss was only because the image taken happened to be
during one of Mars's sandstorms and a question to leave you musing on until
the next video while we all agree that the sky is blue during the day how do we
know that we all see the same color blugh hmm so this video answered a nice
simple question for you so why don't you leave us a nice simple thumbs up as a
big thank you also do you feel free to subscribe for more daily big answers
I'm your host Rebecca Folgate there are links to my social media in the
description box down below if you want to connect with me I'll catch you in the
next video but until then stay curious stay alert and never ever stop
questioning