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Why is the sky blue?

Sunlight looks white, buddy, but it is really all the colors mixed together!

Pip’s picture for “Why is the sky blue?”

Pip’s answer

  1. Sunlight looks white, buddy, but it is really all the colors mixed together!
  2. When sunlight zooms into the sky, whoosh, it bumps into tiny bits of air.
  3. Blue light bounces around the most, so it splashes blue all over the sky!

For grown-ups

Sunlight contains every color. Air molecules scatter short wavelengths (blue and violet) much more strongly than long ones (red and orange), an effect called Rayleigh scattering. That scattered blue light reaches our eyes from every direction, so the whole sky glows blue. We see blue rather than violet partly because our eyes are less sensitive to violet.

Ask your child: What color do you think the sky would be if there were no air at all?

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