[meteorite-list] Blue sky ? - Explanation

From: Ed Majden <epmajden_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:46:23 2004
Message-ID: <3AFDC12C.12A48E6B_at_home.com>

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------77C04A7378264B7442CA518E
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit


http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why-is-the-sky-blue.html

Rather than explain why the sky is blue, I found this page by doing a
quick search of the web!

--------------77C04A7378264B7442CA518E
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1;
 name="why-is-the-sky-blue.html"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Content-Disposition: inline;
 filename="why-is-the-sky-blue.html"
Content-Base: "http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why
        -is-the-sky-blue.html"
Content-Location: "http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org/why
        -is-the-sky-blue.html"

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Blue sky ? - Explanation</TITLE>
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Blue sky explanation: also why are clouds white, why are sunsets red?, why is the sea blue?: Short explanations with quiz to test your blue sky understanding.">
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="blue sky">
</HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#fffedc">
<CENTER><H2>Why is the sky blue ?</H2></CENTER>
<CENTER><A HREF="http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org">Home</A> |
Why is the sky blue? |
<A HREF="./why-is-the-ocean-blue.html">Why is the ocean blue</A>?
</CENTER>
<CENTER><A HREF="./why-are-sunsets-red.html">Why are sunsets red</A>? |
<A HREF="./why-are-clouds-white.html">Why are clouds white</A>? |
<A HREF="./why-is-mars-red.html">Why is Mars red</A>?
</CENTER>
<hr>
<CENTER>Add this website to <FONT COLOR=008000>your favorites</FONT> if you find it useful :-)</CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN="center" CELLPADDING=30 WIDTH=600>
<tr><TD>
<h3>Blue sky: short explanation</h3>

Blue light gets scattered (spread) around much more than all the other colors from the sun, causing the sky to appear blue.

<h3>Blue sky: a more detailed explanation</h3><p>
Light is made up of electromagnetic waves.
<p>
The distance between 2 crests in this wave is called the wavelength.
<p>
White light contains all the colors of the rainbow.
<p>
All the colors in white light have different wavelengths.
<p>
<FONT COLOR=#FF0000>Red light</FONT> has the longest wavelength.
<p>
<FONT COLOR=#FF0000>Red light's</FONT> wavelength is larger than oxygen atoms are big.
<p>
When <FONT COLOR=#FF0000>red light</FONT> passed through the atmosphere, its long wavelength
causes it to pass through the atmosphere without being scattered/spread around.
<p>
<FONT COLOR=#0000FF>Blue light</FONT> has a much, much shorter wavelength than <FONT COLOR=#FF0000>red light</FONT>.
<p>
The wavelength of <FONT COLOR=#0000FF>blue light</FONT> is shorther than oxygen atoms are big.
<p>
Many of the <FONT COLOR=#0000FF>blue light</FONT> waves from the sun collide with the oxygen atoms.
<p>
When such<FONT COLOR=#0000FF> blue light</FONT> waves try to go straight through an oxygen
atom, its light is scattered in all directions because of this collision.
<p>
This scattered <FONT COLOR=#0000FF>blue light</FONT> is what makes the sky blue.
<p>
All other colors (with longer wavelengths than<FONT COLOR=#0000FF> blue light</FONT>) are scattered too.
<p>
<FONT COLOR=#0000FF>Blue light's</FONT> short wavelength causes it to be scattered the most.
<p>
(The shorther the wavelength of the color, the more that color gets scattered by the atmosphere)
<p>
Actually, violet has the shortest wavelength of all colors. Violet is
scattered even more than blue light. However, our eyes are much more
able to see blue than violet, therefore we see the sky as blue.
<p>
Very little visible light is absorbed by the atmosphere.

<h3>Blue sky: summary</h3><p>
Blue light's short wavelength causes it to get scattered around much, much more by oxygen atoms than the longer wavelengths of all other colors visible to us.
<p>
The blue in the sky we see is scattered blue light.
<p>
<A HREF="./sky-blue-quizzes.html">Take these short online quizzes to test your understanding of this blue sky explanation</A>
</td></tr></table>
<p>

<CENTER><FONT COLOR=#FF0000>More</FONT> <FONT COLOR=#0000FF>science</FONT> <FONT COLOR=#FF0000>quizzes</FONT> ... <A HREF="http://www.1001-periodic-table-quiz-questions.com/">Over 1000 school science quiz questions</A></CENTER>
<CENTER>Here are over 1000 school science quiz questions for grade 3 to 9 students.<br>
The quizzes are arranged per grade level and science topic areas.<p></CENTER>
<CENTER><A HREF="find-out-more.html">Find out more about light, reflection and refraction in encyclopedias</A><p></CENTER>
<hr>
<CENTER>© Copyright 2001 - All Rights Reserved Worldwide</CENTER>
<CENTER>Reproducing this website in full or in part is strictly prohibited. </CENTER>
<CENTER>http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.org</CENTER>
</BODY>
</HTML>
--------------77C04A7378264B7442CA518E--
Received on Sat 12 May 2001 07:03:09 PM PDT


Help support this free mailing list:



StumbleUpon
del.icio.us
reddit
Yahoo MyWeb