Why Is The Sky Blue?
2. The Rayleigh Effect
You have probably seen the Rayleigh effect in action before. Perhaps you have noticed when you looked through a window or other clear object that you see a range of different colors. When being demonstrated in schools and similar, a prism is used to get the best effect. When light passes through objects, such as a prism, the wavelengths of light are separated from each other.
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This results in the different colors of the spectrum becoming clearly visible. When light from the sun reaches our atmosphere, molecules in the atmosphere allow the red light to pass through but they cause the blue light to scatter. Hence what the sky appears to be blue.
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