This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.Ĭloser to the horizon, the sky fades to a lighter blue or white. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth's atmosphere. Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Or scatter it (like molecules of the gases in the atmosphere) Blue light waves are shorter than red light waves.Īll light travels in a straight line unless something gets in the way and does one of these things:. Some light travels in short, 'choppy' waves. Like energy passing through the ocean, light energy travels in waves, too. If you visited The Land of the Magic Windows, you learned that the light you see is just one tiny bit of all the kinds of light energy beaming around the universe-and around you! When white light shines through a prism, the light is separated into all its colors. But it is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. And it took a long time to figure it out! Have you ever wondered why?Ī lot of other smart people have, too.

Click here to download this video (1920x1080, 87 MB, video/mp4). Click above to watch this video about why the sky is blue! Voiceover provided by NASA scientist Dr.

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