Just a random question that i wanted to know the answer... im curious:b thanks!
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Adding to Box of Wine's answer:
It is indeed atmospheric scattering.
Light passing through the atmosphere has the blue light scattered, so we see blue when not looking at the sun [assuming no clouds, and it is daytime].
This is the same reason why sunsets are red and orange; the blue has been scattered so other people see it as blue sky, leaving the longer wavelengths to come to us as we watch the sunset.
It is indeed atmospheric scattering.
Light passing through the atmosphere has the blue light scattered, so we see blue when not looking at the sun [assuming no clouds, and it is daytime].
This is the same reason why sunsets are red and orange; the blue has been scattered so other people see it as blue sky, leaving the longer wavelengths to come to us as we watch the sunset.
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Simply put, particles in the atmosphere scatter the blue light in all different directions by a phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering. The reason the sky turns red/orange around sunsets and sunrises, is that the light has to travel through more atmosphere to reach you, and most of the blue light is scattered, leaving only red and orange light.
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Nobody has yet got a thumbs up, so I might as well try my luck:
The universe is black because it is expanding. The light from sufficiently distant stars never reaches us because at some distance the expansion rate exceeds the speed of light.
The Earth's source of light is teh Sun. If you can bear to look it his countenance, you will observe it is a stunningly brilliant white. That is because he shines with all possible colours, which combined are perceived by us as white.
When sunlight shines through several miles of atmosphere, the shorter wavelengths of light get scattered out of the direct line of sight, some of which get rescattered to your eye, so when you look at the sky it appears blue. The residue is mostly red light, and because it can penetrate a great many miles of air, you see it most clearly at sunrise and sunset, when much of the blue light has been scattered out of your line of sight for others to enjoy.
Cheers!
The universe is black because it is expanding. The light from sufficiently distant stars never reaches us because at some distance the expansion rate exceeds the speed of light.
The Earth's source of light is teh Sun. If you can bear to look it his countenance, you will observe it is a stunningly brilliant white. That is because he shines with all possible colours, which combined are perceived by us as white.
When sunlight shines through several miles of atmosphere, the shorter wavelengths of light get scattered out of the direct line of sight, some of which get rescattered to your eye, so when you look at the sky it appears blue. The residue is mostly red light, and because it can penetrate a great many miles of air, you see it most clearly at sunrise and sunset, when much of the blue light has been scattered out of your line of sight for others to enjoy.
Cheers!
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The upper layer of Earth's atmosphere has Ozone (O3) gas, which is blue in colour. So when the light(probably sun light) which is reflected by Earth's surface gets reflected back by the atmosphere, by which we see it(sky), it appears blue.