At sunset, the sky turns orange because sunlight has to travel a longer path through Earth’s atmosphere. As it travels, blue light gets scattered away more than orange and red light, leaving those colors to shine through. It's like when you look at a glass of water, the farther the light goes, the more color changes happen!
Why Blue Light Scatters More
Blue light is tiny and bounces around in the air easily. That’s why the sky is blue during the day. But at sunset, when the sun is low, light has to go through more of Earth's atmosphere, so blue gets scattered even more, leaving orange and red to be seen.
Examples
- It's like looking at a fire through a long tunnel, you see mostly red and orange light instead of blue.
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Categories: Science · optics,light,atmosphere,sunset