Question

The daytime sky is blue, on sunny days, because the atmosphere?

1) is most efficient at scattering red light.
2) absorbs blue light.
3) is more efficient at scattering blue light.
4) absorbs the red light.
5) contains small amounts of water vapor that give the air its blue color.

Answer 1

The correct option: is more efficient at scattering blue light.

The daytime sky is blue because the Earth's atmosphere is more efficient at scattering blue light due to a process known as Rayleigh scattering.

Step-by-step explanation:

The daytime sky appears blue on sunny days primarily because the Earth's atmosphere is more efficient at scattering blue light. This phenomenon is known as Rayleigh scattering. As sunlight passes through the atmosphere, it collides with molecules and small particles, causing the light to scatter in different directions.

Because blue light waves are much shorter in wavelength compared to other colors like red, they scatter more easily and across a wider portion of the sky. This scattering causes the blue color to be distributed all around, making the sky appear blue. The light that reaches our eyes directly from the Sun has some of its blue components scattered away, causing the remaining sunlight to look slightly yellower.

Additionally, the scattering of sunlight by the Earth's atmosphere explains why the Sun looks redder at sunrise and sunset. When the Sun is low in the sky, its light has to travel through a greater thickness of the Earth's atmosphere. Longer paths mean more potential for blue light to be scattered away, allowing more of the red and orange hues to reach the observer, creating the reddened appearance of the Sun during these times.