I’m a Scientist is like school science lessons meet the X Factor! School students choose which scientist gets a prize of $1000 to communicate their work.
Scientists and students talk on this website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote.
This zone is the Disease Zone. It has scientists studying the causes and processes of illness . Who gets the prize? YOU decide!
Great question!
It’s very much got to do with physics….
As you know, our light is made up of different wavelengths, a combination of colours (red, yellow, blue etc). Red light on one end of the spectrum has a very long wavelength, while blue light on the other end of the light spectrum has a short wavelength.
The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As sunlight moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. The red, orange and yellow light wavelengths are not affected by the air.
However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules that float in our atmosphere. So blue light has short wavelengths and is absorbed by gas particles in the air. It 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. Because you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.
If you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes because the color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.
This website from NASA explains it really simply with some drawings to make it clear
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/
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