Reason for blue sky, red sunset and blue ocean
It’s the result of sunlight being scattered when it strikes the air molecules in the atmosphere. The light from the Sun looks white. But it is really made up of all the colours of the rainbow. The theory is how light interacts with molecules means shorter-wavelength light is more strongly scattered than longer-wavelength light.
All light travels in a straight line unless something gets in the way and does one of these things: -
- reflect it (like a mirror)
- bend it (like a prism)
- scatter it (like molecules of the gases in the atmosphere)
The sky is blue due to a phenomenon called Raleigh scattering. This scattering refers to the scattering of electromagnetic radiation by particles of a much smaller wavelength. Closer to the horizon, the sky fades to a lighter blue or white. The sunlight reaching us from low in the sky has passed through even more air than the sunlight reaching us from overhead. Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. The smallest wavelengths of light tend to scatter easier. Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth's atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colours because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.
Why the sky white and less blue?
The surface of Earth has reflected and scattered the light. All this scattering mixes the colours together again so we see more white and less blue.
What makes red sunset?
At sunset and sunrise, the angle at which sunlight enters the atmosphere is significantly changed, and most of the blue and green (shorter) wavelengths of light are scattered even before reaching the lower atmosphere, so we see more of the orange and red colours in the sky.
Reason behind blue ocean?
Like energy passing through the ocean, light energy travels in waves, too. The ocean is blue due to how different wavelengths of light interact with different substances. Water molecules are good at absorbing longer wavelengths of light so when sunlight hits the water, the reds and oranges get absorbed. The shorter wavelength blue light is absorbed very little and much of it is reflected so we see the ocean is blue. It’s possible to see hues of green and sometimes other colours in the water but that’s due to sunlight bouncing off other particles or sediments within it.
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