“Why is the Sky Blue? Explained by Rayleigh Scattering Phenomenon”

Talking about the sky, have we ever wondered why the sky looks blue on a clear day? Why is it that on a clear morning or evening the sky is orange or reddish? Why isn’t it orange, red, or any other color besides blue, orange and red during a sunny day?

It turns out that this is the result of Rayleigh scattering. Rayleigh Scattering is one of the phenomena in the atmosphere which is included in the science of meteorology. Meteorology is the science that studies the Earth’s atmosphere and the weather phenomena that occur in it.

Scattering or scattering in meteorology is the phenomenon of the spread of sunlight by the medium in the atmosphere. When sunlight passes through a medium such as air, water, or small particles in the atmosphere, some of the sunlight will collide with the particles or molecules in the medium. As a result, sunlight can change direction or even be reflected back in the direction it came from. In this case, nitrogen and oxygen molecules make up 99% of the atmosphere and are the most powerful dispersing radiation that causes Rayleigh scattering.

Rayleigh scattering is the phenomenon of scattering of sunlight by particles or molecules that are smaller than the wavelength of the sunlight being received. Rayleigh scattering occurs when sunlight with a wavelength that is larger than the characteristic size of the scattering particles (such as visible light at blue or purple wavelengths) interacts with the scattered particles and scattering of sunlight occurs.

In Rayleigh scattering, the scattered sunlight changes direction and intensity. Light with shorter wavelengths (such as blue or purple) will be scattered more strongly than light with longer wavelengths (such as red).

When the sun is directly above us (noon) then the sunlight that enters the earth will pass through a thinner atmosphere. This is why the sky looks blue during the day, because shorter blue light tends to be scattered more by particles in the atmosphere.

When the sun is close to the horizon (in the morning or evening) then the sunlight that enters the earth will pass through a thicker atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering will cause the sky to appear orange or reddish in the morning or evening. This is because red light has a longer wavelength that can penetrate a thicker atmosphere better than blue light.