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ICSE Class 10 Answered

Is it due to the dispersion of light that we see the sky as  blue in color?
Asked by Toshi | 21 Aug, 2015, 09:23: PM
answered-by-expert Expert Answer
A rainbow is a natural spectrum that appears in the sky after rainfall. It is caused by dispersion of sunlight by water droplets in the atmosphere.

The phenomenon in which a part of the light incident on a particle is redirected in different directions is called the scattering of light. The blue colour of the sky, the colour of water in the deep sea and the reddening of the Sun during sunrise or sunset are some examples of daily life which occur due to scattering.
 

Blue colour of sky:

The molecules of air and other fine particles in the atmosphere have a size smaller than the wavelength of visible light. Thus, they are more effective in scattering light of shorter wavelengths at the blue end than light of longer wavelengths at the red end.
 
Red light has a wavelength greater than blue light. Thus, when sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the fine particles in air scatter blue colour (shorter wavelengths) more strongly than red. The scattered blue light enters our eyes.

If the Earth had no atmosphere, then there would not have been any scattering. The sky would have looked dark. Similarly, the sky appears dark to aeroplane passengers flying at very high altitudes, as scattering is not prominent at such heights.
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