What causes the sky to change color as light travels through the air?

The sky changes color because light travels through air and bounces off tiny things called particles, which act like little filters.

Imagine you're playing with a flashlight in a room full of tiny, invisible dust bunnies, that's kind of what happens when sunlight goes through the air. When it’s daytime, the sky looks blue because the light has to go through more clean air and fewer particles. The blue light is like the one that skips around the most.

When the sun is low in the sky, like at sunrise or sunset, the light has to travel a longer path through the air, passing by more particles, like dust and pollution. This makes the blue light get filtered out more, and the red and orange light are what shine through, which is why the sky looks pink or red.

On hazy days or when there’s a lot of smoke in the air, like after a fire, even more particles are around to play with the light. This makes the sky look gray or brown, like it's wearing a smoky hat.

So, every time the sun shines through the air, it's like a fun game between light and tiny invisible friends, and we get to see the colorful results!