What Causes a Sunset to Change Colors?

Imagine the sun as a giant flashlight shining down on Earth. During sunset, it’s like the light has to travel through more of Earth's atmosphere, which acts like a filter that changes the colors we see. The blue and green light gets scattered away, leaving behind the warm reds and oranges. That’s why sunsets look so colorful!

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Examples

  1. A red balloon looks orange when it’s near the ground at sunset.
  2. The sky turns pink during a summer storm, making everything look like it's in a painting.
  3. You see the sun as a big red ball just above the horizon.

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Categories: Physics · Optics· Light· Atmospheric Phenomena · Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.