Jul 31, 2015

old Nebraska





Incidentally, I learned why the sky is blue: Rayleigh scattering.  The sunlight hits tiny particles (< 0.1 micron) in Earth's atmosphere.  At this size, blue light scatters most.  When the sun seems lower to Earth's edge, it passes through more atmosphere and bigger particles, which makes other colors scatter more -- red, orange, sunset.

More or less.

Walter Lewin at MIT, 30 minutes in:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0FbQdH3dY
(thanks to student parent)


2 comments:

  1. Which is why, if you live in a state farther from the equator, the sunsets/sunrises will be more beautiful.
    Forever Wyoming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. (and because God loves blue the best of any other color in the EM spectrum.)

    ReplyDelete