Blue Light Scatters

Light Meets the Air

Sunlight looks white to our eyes. It holds all the rainbow colors inside. You learned about ROYGBIV before. This light travels in fast waves. It zooms toward Earth from the sun. The trip takes eight minutes. Then, the light hits Earth. Earth has a thick blanket of air. We call this the atmosphere. This air is full of gas molecules. Nitrogen and oxygen are everywhere. The light waves must pass through them. The journey is not easy. The air is very crowded. Millions of tiny gas molecules float around. They block the straight path. The light waves must find a way. They push through this crowded space.

Short Waves and Long Waves

Remember how light travels? It moves in waves from crest to crest. Every color has a different wave size. Red light has very long waves. Orange and yellow waves are long too. Blue light has very short waves.

Think of a giant walking down a road. He takes huge steps. He steps right over the small rocks. Red light is like that giant. It passes right through the air. It does not hit the gas molecules. Red light travels in a straight line.

Blue light is very different. It takes tiny steps. It acts like a small dog running. The dog trips over the small rocks. Blue light hits the gas molecules.

Let's look at the exact size.

In plain terms: Blue light waves are extremely tiny. We measure them in tiny units called nanometers. They are the perfect size for hitting gases.

Here is how red light and blue light compare:

Bouncing in All Directions

Blue light crashes into the nitrogen and oxygen. The light cannot go straight anymore. The gas molecules push it away. The blue light bounces off. It shoots in a new direction. It hits another molecule. It bounces again.

Think of a pinball machine. You pull the spring. The silver ball shoots up. It hits a round bumper. It bounces to the left. It hits another bumper. It bounces to the right. Blue light acts just like that pinball. The gas molecules act like the bumpers. The blue light bounces up and down. It bounces left and right.

This bouncing is called scattering. Blue light scatters everywhere. It fills the sky above us.

In plain terms: Scientists call this bouncing action Rayleigh scattering. A smart man named Lord Rayleigh figured it out. He studied how light hits gases long ago 3. He found out why blue light scatters so much.

The Color Violet

You might remember the color violet. Violet is in the rainbow too. Violet waves are even shorter than blue waves. They hit the gas molecules too. Violet light scatters just like blue light. It bounces all over the sky.

But our eyes are very special. Our eyes see blue much better than violet. The sun also makes more blue light. This makes the sky look blue to us. It does not look violet. You will learn more about this soon.

A Precious Sky

Our blue sky is very special. We must take care of it. Pollution can change the air. Bad gases can block the light.

In plain terms: Human choices could hurt our beautiful sky. Pollution adds bad things to the air. We must keep our air clean. Clean air lets the blue light scatter perfectly.

Try It Yourself

You can see this scattering at home. You need a clear glass of water. You need a bright white flashlight. You need a tiny drop of milk. Teachers often use this trick in class 5. It shows how light works.

The flashlight acts like the sun. The water acts like space. The milk acts like the gas molecules. The milk scatters the blue light. You see a blue glow. The red waves pass straight through. This is exactly what happens high above us. The blue light bounces into your eyes. Soon, you will know exactly why the whole sky looks blue.

Key Terms

• Scattering — When light hits tiny particles and bounces off in many different directions.
• Rayleigh scattering 3 — The scientific name for how gas molecules make short blue light waves bounce around the sky.
• Nanometer 1 — A very tiny unit of measurement used to measure the size of light waves.