Is the sky blue?

[homelessmandril]

YouTube - the orb - little fluffy clouds

A personal favourite of mine... Enjoy!

ooo, thanks very much! love the video too, god bless 1990 :biggrin1:

 

[AlteredEgo]

Get over yourself.

Wow. I can only see what he writes when we quote him. Put him on ignore. I think he enjoys negative attention. We were having a good time discussion the issue and can continue so to do.

 

[Make'nItLong]

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.


However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

Or so I learned...

What mercurialbliss said...

 

[b.c.]

...sometimes....

 

[rob_just_rob]

I'll tell you when it stops being blocked out by alternating flights of flying pink elephants and a massive horde of ravens.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

bliss already stole my answer, but I could also add some places I've lived recently the sky was more greyish-yellow most days.

 

[huw ginnit]

Grey grey grey.

or could it be GrAy????

I always wondered what kind of reactions teachers would give a child if it had been raised to think differently about colours..I'm colour blind, like 3/4 of the men here, and always thought why red was red and why, where the blueiness of blue came from and how it affected mood...when what I saw was RED or blue. Mum pointed to an orange, said orange cause it was the colour orange, my wellies were green I could see that, she'd told me so often enough, yet when I put on a green jumper, other people tell me it's brown.... Huh?

 

[Mem]

Get over yourself.

I got over myself. I was mistaken, I thought that your poll was meant to mock one of the other members here. I am glad that it was not. You must be a very nice guy.

 

[B_Think_Kink]

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.


However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

Or so I learned...

Thank you, and thank grade 12 Biology.

 

[No_Strings]

I fancied getting all philosophical in my answer, but no one else has so I feel it would be wasted.

Hmmph. :redface:

 

[SpeedoGuy]

Have any of the skywatchers here ever seen the storied green flash in the sky at sunset? Over many years of trying I finally saw it once in the desert outside of Tucson.

More on atmospheric Optics

 

[Bbucko]

During the day, the parts of the sky not effected by cloud cover appears blue.

I voted yes.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Yes.

The bluest sky I've ever seen was when I was hiking in southern Utah. On a clear day, and at an elevation of about 8000 feet, the sky is such an intense blue it's almost painful to look at.

 

[camper joe]

Well the night time sky isn't blue.

 

[DC_DEEP]

Technically speaking, no. It certainly does appear to be blue, however.

So, what's the difference between "is blue" and "appears blue"? Anything appears to be whatever color it appears to be, due to the wavelength of light our eyes receive from it... so, technically, nothing is any color, it just appears that way.

I guess it all depends upon what the definition of "is" is...

 

[agnslz]

The sky is normally a wonderful shade of turquoise blue around here. Today, however, it's a peaceful shade of powder blue, with lovely cotton-like clouds sprinkled about.