Because ozone is between us on the surface and outerspace. Ozone is O3 after ultraviolet light has reacted with O2. It is 3mm thick all round the Earth and is blue (when uncontaminated), thus the sky is blue.

Isaac Asimov wrote that although violet light is scattered more easily by Earth's atmosphere than blue is, and that therefore the sky ought to be violet rather than blue, there are fewer violet rays in sunlight and our eyes are much more sensitive to blue than to violet. I just read this a couple days ago, but can't remember the name of the book--he wrote nearly 500.

I always thought the sky was blue due to the reflection of the water (oceans) against the atmosphere

The moisture in the air makes up our atmosphere, it appear blue, just like the ocean appears blue. Space has no moisture so it is black.

it has to do w/ light particles and their interaction w/ our atmosphere. light is made up of both particles and wavelengths; the wavelengths are comprised of many different colors, essentially all the colors of the rainbow. blue light wavelenghts are the most erratic of the color spectrum and scatter very easily when they come in contact w/ any interference, such as our atmosphere. as the light from the sun passes through our atmosphere, which is comprised of water vapor and other chemical and elemental combinations, the blue wavelengths strike these particles and spread out across the sky latterally. red wavelenths are the strongest wavelengths, on the other hand, and that is why at sunrise and sunset, when sunlight is at it's longest angle, the red wavelenghts pass through the atmosphere, relatively, undisturbed and can then be overwhelm the already diffused blue coloration. so when the sunlight is most direct above us, the blue wavelengths are scattered and overwhelm the other portions of the spectrum, causing us to look up and see a blue sky; and, inversely, when the sun is at it's most obtuse angle to our atmosphere, we can look up and see a red sky which progress in a relatively straight and direct manner. in cities which have a greater amount of air pollution, such as los angeles or mexico city, the sunrises and sunsets are enhanced by the thicker atmospheric interaction w/ the red wavelenghts and become more vivid as they pass through our air. as for why space is so dark, in short, space is black because there is no atmosphere for the light waves to interact with and disperse across to form a universal impression of color. no atmosphere, no blue (or red) sky.

i thought that aswell

The sky is technically transparent (or at least translucent)... we just have so much atmosphere that when the sun is out (and the sun is VERY bright) all that light gets scattered (as Rhys Waite states above). But at night or during a total eclipse, you can see through our sky to the black space above.

"The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue." http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

SKY- A clear cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight OCEAN- Sunlight is made up of all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Some of the sunlight is reflected off the surface of the water, reflecting the color of the sky. Some of the sunlight penetrates the water and is scattered by ripples and particles in the water (this tinges the appearance of the ocean with the color of the particles). In deep water, much of the sunlight is scattered by the oxygen in the water, and this scatters more of the blue light.

Asked before, but.... These are the "colors" you see reflected, others are absorbed. At night, aren't they both BLACK?

the anwser is because oxygen is blue in color if your ever see liquid oxygen its blue and thats the majority of the atomic mass of water and air

i heard that the sky is blue b/c its a reflections off the water

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

Here are your answers provided by Google: # http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html # http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html # http://science.howstuffworks.com/question39.htm # http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html # http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.tv/ More: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=why+is+the+sky+blue

Light travels through space in a straight line as long as nothing disturbs it. As light moves through the atmosphere, it continues to go straight until it bumps into a bit of dust or a gas molecule. Then what happens to the light depends on its wave length and the size of the thing it hits. Dust particles and water droplets are much larger than the wavelength of visible light. When light hits these large particles, it gets reflected, or bounced off, in different directions. The different colors of light are all reflected by the particle in the same way. The reflected light appears white because it still contains all of the same colors. Gas molecules are smaller than the wavelength of visible light. If light bumps into them, it acts differently. When light hits a gas molecule, some of it may get absorbed. After awhile, the molecule radiates (releases, or gives off) the light in a different direction. The color that is radiated is the same color that was absorbed. The different colors of light are affected differently. All of the colors can be absorbed. But the higher frequencies (blues) are absorbed more often than the lower frequencies (reds). This process is called Rayleigh scattering. (It is named after Lord John Rayleigh, an English physicist, who first described it in the 1870's.) The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

Duplicates: # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/108444 # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/122075 # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/61398 # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/52908 You might find some useful answers there. Ps. You can often find that a question you want to ask has already been asked before. Try searching for previous questions by using the search box in the upper-right corner ("Find answers about:").

Blue is the wavelength that is reflected back due to the composition of our atmosphere.

Hi ErikaD, This question has been asked before, please check for previous questions before posting a new one. (See the "Find questions about:" box in the top right corner.) # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/108444 # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/122075 # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/52908 # http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/61398 Welcome to the bag. :-)

The suns light refracting off our atmosphere. The way the sun passes and bounces off certain gases give off the blue.

The sky is blue because the blue light reflects or refracts off of the water droplets in the sky - which also allows things like the different colors of sunrises and sunsets.

It is due to a phenomenon called Rayleigh Scattering. It laymens' terms, white light from the sun scatters/refracts as it hits Earth's atmosphere. This scattering is dependent upon the wavelength (color) of the light, so more blue light reaches our eyes than other colors. For a more complete explanation... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering#Why_is_the_sky_blue.3F . .

Serious answer, this is a duplicate question. There's a 'search' feature to the top right of the screen.

the atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere have an effect on the sunlight that passes through them. There is a physical phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering that causes light to scatter when it passes through particles that have a diameter one-tenth that of the wavelength (color) of the light. Sunlight is made up of all different colors of light, but because of the elements in the atmosphere the color blue is scattered much more efficiently than the other colors. So when you look at the sky on a clear day, you can see the sun as a bright disk. The blueness you see everywhere else is all of the atoms in the atmosphere scattering blue light toward you. (Because red light, yellow light, green light and the other colors aren't scattered nearly as well, you see the sky as blue.) Quoted from http://science.howstuffworks.com/question39.htm

Because then the grass would have to be blue and chlorophyll is yet to turn blue.

It's this whole thing having to do when light enters the Earth's atmosphere. It gets all reflected, and the only color that gets through is blue. That's why the sky turns more black at night, but is still slightly blue since there is still a little light.

When light passes through the atmosphere, blue is the predominant colour that is shown because blue light has a short wavelength and it passes through easier. When the sun is setting, it has to pass through more of the atmosphere, so instead of the blue light making it through, it is absorbed. The colour that makes it through the most at this time of day is the shorter, red wavelengths, which is why sunsets are usually red.

Because it's made of air, which is slightly blue. This sounds like a silly answer but the technical answer is that blue light is more scattered by molecules (not dust as was once thought) in the air, but this is just a complex way of saying air looks blue. All that blue light is extracted from straight line sunlight, leaving sunlight red when seen though more of the atmosphere, at sunset or sunrise.

...as an interesting aside, the Mars sky is pinkish red for the same reasons ours is blue (make-up of its atmosphere). And sunsets there are blue...

It has to do with light refraction.

isnt it like the reflection of the water or something?

The sky is blue because air scatters short-wavelength light in preference to longer wavelengths.

Through a process known as Rayleigh scattering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering) the blue wavelengths of sunlight scatter much more off the molecules of air in the atmosphere than the other colors. So blue light comes from every direction before it reaches your eyes, making the whole sky seem blue. Meanwhile the color of the sun itself seems to be a little more yellowish (less blue). When the sun is near the horizon, the light passes through more layers of atmosphere, scattering more blue and rendering the sun even more reddish-orange than it really is. With no atmosphere (like on the moon), the sky would look black and the sun would look more whitish.

Why is the sky blue: Discussion Transmitted light (from the sun, light bulbs, fire, etc) is made up of a spectrum of colors. The longest wavelengths of light are on the red end of the spectrum and the shortest wavelengths are on the blue/violet end of the spectrum. When transmitted light such as sunlight enters our atmosphere it collides with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms. The color with the shorter wavelength is scattered more by this collision. Because violet and blue are the shortest wavelengths the sky appears to be violet / blue. But because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light than they are violet light, we perceive the sky as blue. Our eyes contain thousand of rods and cones, which are the receptors for light. Whenever one of the 3 Stooges pokes you in the eye you see a giant blue spot. This is because the blue receptors have been activated. Blue is one of the primary colors and thus more easily activated and seen by our eyes. Blue is also how I feel when my baby leaves and my hound dog dies. Also, how I feel when the cops pull me over and I see their blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. Then, again, blue is the color of the K-mart special, so this color isn't all bad. Why is the sky blue: Summary So, why is the sky blue? It is because blue light from the sun strikes the air molecules and scatters and our eyes perceive it as blue. Why is the sky blue: Short Summary Why is the sky blue, you ask? Blue in sunlight collides with air molecules and our eyes see it as blue. Why is the sky blue: Condensed Sunlight collides with air, scatters blue wavelengths. Why is the sky blue: Ultra-Condensed. You are seeing things. Stop asking. From :http://www.why-is-the-sky-blue.tv/

The sky is blue to match my pretty eyes!!!!!!!!

Its a reflection of water!

to hard to explain why the sky is blue

It supports Chelsea.

It supports Chelsea.

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

In the visible spectrum of light, all the colours have slightly different angles of refraction... so when rain splits the light, the colours defract differently creating a rainbow. The bluer colours have the shortest refraction distance, so when the sun is above us (which it mainly is)the particles in the atmosphere begin to defract the light and it's the bluer colours which we see becasue they are refracted "first"... so the sky is blue. Very early or late, the sun is near the horizon and the light travels through much more atmospheric particles to reach out eyes (as it's moving through the air and not cutting straight across it as it would when the suns at its peak). Due to more particles to referact the light... the bluer colours are refracted further and we don't see them; we are left with the redder colours which is why sunsets are pink, red and yellowy. I guess rain drops are like the air particles on a huge scale, so the the light is defracted sharply creating a rainbow that ranges through the colours in a small space... whereas the particles in the atmosphere are so so tiny, that the light is defracted with huge angles of refraction kind of creating a massive rainbow, and we happen to be sitting in the blue slice of it... and ealy or late on, the excess of particles move us to the redder slice creating sunsets! Thats the best i can do = ) x

It's a reflection of the sea off the atmosphere.

It has to do with the wavelengths of different colors of light. When the sun is high the short wavelength blue light waves scatter the most effectively, which gives the blue sky. When the sun is rising or setting, colors of light with longer wavelengths are able to project straight out, and the degree that each wavelength does this results in the gradient of colors seen in a sunset/rise.

I don't know if that's entirely correct (what you were saying, Nelson), because if blue light were to pass easier through the atmosphere, then the sun itself would have a bluish tint. And that still wouldn't explain why the sky would look blue; if anything, the blue light, as it travels through the atmosphere to a spot other than your eyes, would travel easier and not be refracted to your eyes... the red would, and so the sky would look red. The blue light is refracted by the atmosphere and enters your eyes, intensely overlaying any starlight or moonlight (except at times when you can see the moon a bit during the day). This gives a bluish sky. As for the reddish sun, well, the light rays that go directly from the sun into your eyes (when you're looking at the sun) have been refracted away (into other people's eyes) and so the reddish tones are left over. Hence the sun looking reddish. During sunsets, since the light passes through more atmosphere, more blue is refracted away, and the sun looks redder.

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. www.sciencemadesimple.com

Incoming sunlight undergoes Rayleigh Scattering, which causes the blue (and ultraviolet for all you tanning freaks), to be scattered more than the reds and infrareds. Thus you can get sunburned on a cloudy day, or otherwise shaded from the direct sun, but not shaded from the rest of the sky. http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

Oxygen has a blue colour whether it be gas (though too pale to the naked eye), liquid or solid (O3 - ozone). There is a layer of ozone "between 6.21 and 31.1 miles" above us, that is a hell of a long distance for light to pass through, there fore most of the ligght that reaches uor eyes is blue. between 6.21 and 31.1 miles

Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red. The reason the sky seems blue is that as the light from the sun enters our atmosphere, the blue light is randomly scattered from its straight path. This is why wherever you look in the sky the colour is blue. Red however isn't scattered as much so continues on a more or less straight path. This is also why when you look at the sun it is yellower than it normally is as the blue light that would go directly from the sun to you has been scattered and so less blue light is reaching you on the direct path. This is also why when the sun sets it gets redder. This is because there is more atmosphere for the light to travel through (so even more blue light is scattered from this direct path) and the red light is scattered more than it normally is (hence why the red light appears to be coming towards us from quite a distance from the sun). The amount of dust in the air also affects the colour as well. Interesting to note is that the reason clouds are white is that as light enters it scatters all the light equally (not just blue).

It's due to the atmosphere scattering the blue light that comes from the sun. Think of a hose. If you shoot it directly at yourself you get wet, if it's not pointed at you, you don't (this is what it's like from the sun). If you now point the hose away and put your finger over the end of the hose you get wet as the water is scattered all over the place by your finger being in the way. This is what the atmosphere does with blue light. That's why it appears to be coming from everywhere in the sky and hence the sky is blue. The obvious side effect is that if you then point the hose at yourself with your finger over the end you don't get wet either. This is why the sun appears a different colour on earth (more yellowy) than it does in space (because the blue that would come directly at us has been scattered away). The other colours (red and green) are not scattered in this way to any great effect during the day.

The sky is blue because it has to look down and see the hash that humanity is making of the world.

Its God's favorite color according to my niece

The sky is blue, because it wouldn't make sense to be any other colour; when it cries so many raindrops, it must be blue. At dusk the sky turns red because it is angry at the sun for taking away the only light it has in it's life. At night, when the sky is sleeping, we can really see that it is blue and black because of all the abuse it has had to endure watching over our planet. And when the sun rises once again, it hold's it's head up high, but we all know the sky will always be blue, and will never stop weeping x

Its reminds us to remain cool all the time.

Goddess made the sky blue because it is a calming color, and the world needs as much calming as it can get.

For the same reason that belly button lint is blue, it is the most pervasive colour in the spectrum.

My mum told me - Just because it is. she used to say that about a lot of things.

i farted and it changed that colour because its holdong its breath

It used to be red but I painted it because I'm a Chelsea nut !!

God ran out of green crayons colouring in all the grass, so he had to use blue instead.

any other color would cost to much.

To prove wrong the old saying 'blue and green should never be seen without a colour in-between'

Picasso's blue period was because he was very poor at the time, and blue was the cheapest paint he could buy. The same was obviously true for God: when He was creating the Earth, he did a bulk buy of the cheapest paint he could get and used it for the largest things around, the sky and the oceans.

the sky is blue because its blue what other color would it be?

My usual response: "To make you ask why".

reconmarine, you may want to check this website out. I think it's the same question. Make sure you check to see if there is a question like yours before you post it. We want to keep AB clean. It's a very good question though. +1

God is a carolina tarheel fan

It has to do with how light from the sun and it's colour spectrum is scattered in the atmosphere. It's actually similar to what happens to a diver and what light we see. The longer wave lengths of light such as the colours orange, yellow and red don't get scattered by our atmosphere and pretty well punch through. The shorter wave lengths like blue, get bounced around by the air in the atmosphere and somewhat absorbed by the molecules of the air. They scatter all over. Hence, you get a blue sky.

The atmosphere reflects other colour wavelengths back into space leaving blue to filter through and to our eyes.

The technical term for what is happening is Rayleigh Scattering, and you could google on that. As light passes through the atmosphere, a small fraction of it is scattered from its path. The scattered light, instead of appearing to come straight from the sun and being part of the fierce fireball, appears to come from a different direction, which makes the sky bright. And the shorted wavelengths - the blue light - are scattered more than the green or red, so the sky appears blue. And on the other side, the setting sun appears red because all "our" blue has been scattered to make other people's blue sky.

the sky is blue because sunlight refracts through the atmosphere at the blue frequency. the ocean is blue because it reflects the sky.

The question needs rewording to "Why is the sky blue?" This is also a duplicate question!

A clear cloudless day-time sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light. When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight. :)

If it were pink you would wonder why it isn't blue.

No, the sky is clear, the reflection of certain spectums of light make it look blue. Actually, today, the sky here is overcast by clouds or technically, the moisture in the sky is diffusing the sunlight, and the reflecting light makes it appear grey.

like that commercial, right? little girl: "daddy, why is the sky blue?" daddy: "to match your pretty eyes." little girl: "daddy, did you know that most women will give up on science and math courses by the time they turn 13" she just starts ranting. it's great!

Scattering of light particles in the atmosphere.

Before asking your question, check to see if it's already been asked before. See here: http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/108444

It got bored being red and decided it was time for some change.

Because blue is my favorite color and the world bends to my will.

because god loves the infantry

Because blue is my favorite color!

Cos if it started raining we'd have to go around listening to people singing Prince songs.

If you click the 'Search for Answers' tab and type in "sky blue", you get the gazillion times this question has been asked and answered here on AnswerBag: http://www.answerbag.com/search?search=sky+blue&categoryid=1&category=Categories Two words: Rayleigh Scattering

Why is the sky blue? Sunlight consists of light of various wavelengths, which are seen as the different colors of the visible spectrum. The longest of these light waves are red, and the shortest are blue or violet. The gas molecules of our atmosphere scatter far more light of the shorter wavelengths, the blue, than of the longer wavelengths, the red. As a result, clear sky has a blue color. The air surrounding the earth, with its innumerable particles of solid materials, such as dust, scatters light to give the appearance of visibility, as though reflected from a mirror. On the other hand, when the sun is near the horizon, sunlight travels through a greater amount of atmosphere to reach the eye, and the longer waves penetrate better than the shorter waves, causing the sky to take on a deep orange and red appearance. Solid particles in the air accentuate the reddening. Similarly, when smoke or dense clouds fill the sky, light waves of all colors are scattered. This causes the sky to appear gray. This awesome display of God’s use of light in the atmospheric heavens reminds us of the words of the psalmist: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling.” Psalm 19:1.

They've hashed this question out here already http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/61398

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html

my dad used to tell me it was the reflection from the ocean... :)

It has to do with the way the sunlight refracts as it enters the atmosphere

Enter keywords (diet, gardening, etc.)

FFS this is the 50th time this question has been asked! If you must spam questions like you are doing then at least have the decency to look at similar questions before doing so.

has to do with refraction and filtering the rays through the atmosphere and blue is the only one that can pass through. That's about all I remanber from seventh grade science.

I don't know...why is the grass green? ;o)

There may be people who could give you an answer better than I,but I will do my best to explain. The sky is light blue in daytime[azure]because the sun shines on the worlds seas and oceans to give them that colour which will then reflect the colour to the sky. Without the sun..the sky will be black..black..black.

Because it's sad. :(

something to do with refracting light through nitrogen particles or something. its NOTHING to do with reflection from the oceans

It's because our atmosphere (primarily nitrogen) filters out everything but the blue light we see. It also depends on how much atmosphere the sun has to penetrate which is partially responsible for the color change at sunset.

(Why is the sky blue?) It is because of the way light from the sun refracts (splits into colors) when it hits the atmosphere.

fact is, the reason it is blue it because the air particles in the ionosphere (or stratoshpere) reflect blue light, and absorb all other colors (including violet purple, purple is not a color)

Light is a kind of energy that can travel through space. Light from the sun or a light bulb looks white, but it is really a mixture of many colors. The colors in white light are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. You can see these colors when you look at a rainbow in the sky. The sky is filled with air. Air is a mixture of tiny gas molecules and small bits of solid stuff, like dust. As sunlight goes through the air, it bumps into the molecules and dust. When light hits a gas molecule, it may bounce off in a different direction. Some colors of light, like red and orange, pass straight through the air. But most of the blue light bounces off in all directions. In this way, the blue light gets scattered all around the sky. When you look up, some of this blue light reaches your eyes from all over the sky. Since you see blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

The one wavelength or color of the spectrum that is reflected back and detected by the retinas of our eyes.

the suns rays give out 3 colours, red, blue and green, combined, they make white the red rays are longer than the blue and green, as a result, the blue ones bounce all across the atmosphere, creating the blue. the sea is blue because of the sky, not because of the colour of itself. the red hits things like the moon, so when there is a lunar eclipse, the moon and earth is at an angle that the earth doesn't get the red but the moon does. hope that wasn't too complicated...