Among his many other achievements, Newton came up with a theory that explains how we see light and color—a theory intrinsic to the explanation of why we see the sky as blue. That's why the sky is blue. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time. Why is the sky blue? This scattering, called Rayleigh scattering, is more effective at short wavelengths (the blue end of the visible spectrum).Therefore the light scattered down to the earth at a large angle with respect to the direction of the sun's light is predominantly in the blue end of the spectrum. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time. To answer these questions, we must learn about light, the Earth's atmosphere, and how these two things interact. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight. Blue light (shorter wavelengh) is scattered more than red light (longer wavelength). Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why light scattered by clouds takes on the same color as the incoming light. The blue end, where there are some particles scattering light, is like the sky on a clear day. Ever noticed that the sky directly overhead looks a deeper blue than it does near the horizon? In order, to answer this question it is necessary to understand what is the sky and everything in it. The answer taught in classrooms is: the sky is blue because blue is a short wavelength and air molecules scatter short wavelengths of light better than long wavelengths. To summarize, the sky is blue because the blue color inside the sunlight is scattered more by air molecules and is perceived better by our eyes. So, the next time someone asks why the sky is blue, tell them that it has to do with light being scattered by molecules in the sky, creating a light energy wave of a frequency that corresponds to blue. Light loves to play its tricks on us — but the result is a sky full of colors worth traveling for. The sunlight we see each day, called “white light," may appear colorless, but it is actually full of a lot of colors mixed together. To understand why the sky is blue, we first need to understand a little bit about light. If we understood everything about everything, we would have no … The orange end is like the sky near sunrise or sunset. Blue Sky. One of the perennial questions of childhood is “Why is the sky blue?” You may have asked this as a child, or you may have a child now asking you! To understand why the sky is blue, we first need to understand a little bit about light. More of the sunlight entering the atmosphere is blue than violet, however, and our eyes are somewhat more sensitive to blue light than to violet light, so the sky appears blue. And thus blue light is released. To understand why the sky is blue, we first need to understand a little bit about light. Similarly, cloud droplets (typically 10 millionths to 100 millionths of a meter) are much larger than visible light waves, so they scatter light without much color variation. When sunlight travels through the atmosphere, blue light scatters more than the other colors, leaving a dominant yellow-orange hue to the transmitted light. The sunlight reaching us from low in the sky has passed through even more air than the sunlight reaching us from overhead. Why the Sky Is Blue — and Where to Watch That Change the Most Dramatically at Sunset. The scattered light makes the sky blue; the transmitted light ultimately makes the sunset reddish orange. Why is the sky blue? The colors we can see are called visible light.But most light in the universe is invisible to our eyes. There is a complex, scientific reason for it, Claire, but most children, including you, are content with knowing it is blue because it is. Blue Sky Discover why the sky is blue and the sunset is red. Even more of the blue and violet light is scattered, allowing the reds and yellows to pass straight through to your eyes without all that competition from the blues. So, the next time someone asks why the sky is blue, tell them that it has to do with light being scattered by molecules in the sky, creating a light energy wave of a frequency that corresponds to blue. The sky appears blue to the human eye as the short waves of blue light are scattered more than the other colours in the spectrum, making the blue light more visible. This is because the sunlight that reaches us from lower in the sky has passed through more air (and therefore, has hit many more gas molecules) than that reaching us from overhead. We actually have Isaac Newton and a number of other important thinkers to thank for the answer. Our eyes can only see a few of the colors in the entire universe, and sky blue is one of them! When the Sun is high in the sky, this is why the entire sky is blue.