|
Nature's Corner Christine Lange The sky above is always changing. On a clear day, it may be a lovely shade of robin's egg blue. It may look brilliant red at sunset or velvety black at night. But would you guess that the air is actually colorless? Then why does the sky appear blue or red? Because of sunlight. White sky is actually made up of the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. All light is a form of energy that travels to your eye in continuous waves, much like waves on an ocean. Each color has a different wavelength (the distance between the top of one wave to the top of the next). Red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest. Over the same distance there would be fewer long rays of red light and more short waves of violet light. When rays of sunlight pass through the atmosphere, they bounce against gas molecules and dust particles in the air. The short violet and blue waves hit many more particles and thus are scattered the most. Everywhere you look, bluish light is directed to your eye. That is why the sky appears to be various shades of blue. As the sun rises or sets, light rays that reach you from the horizon pass through a thicker layer of atmosphere than do light rays reaching you when the sun is overhead, for example at noon. Rays of light at sunrise or sunset encounter more dust and gas molecules as they travel to your eye. As a result, blue light hits many more particles and is scattered even more, so much so that the blue hasn't a chance to reach your eyes. The longer red rays, however, come in a straighter line to your eye and are scattered less, so the setting sun and surrounding sky looks red. Once sunlight with all of its colors no longer fills the sky, the night sky appears black. |
More Wrightwood About Wrightwood Wrightwood Events Wrightwood Weather Photo Tours 360° Wrightwood Village - |
|
| Discover Wrightwood |
|
Route 66 Historic Highway 66 across the USA Interactive Map & Photos |
Desert Gazette True Facts, Legends, Lies & Misc. |
Explore the Mojave Desert National Parks Joshua Tree - Death Valley - Mojave Preserve |
|
|
abraxas engineering |
Copyright ©1999-2005 Walter Feller * ALL RIGHTS RESERVED * |
privacy statement |