When rays from The Sun enter the atmosphere, the light is a mixture of all the colours of the spectrum. Particles in the air scatter certain colours sideways. The smaller the wavelength, the greater the scattering, so blue is scattered most. Having been knocked sideways, it is this light that gives the sky its colour.
At sunset, when the light comes in at an angle, the light has to pass more particles to reach us. Thus more colours are scattered, leaving orange and red to reach us.
I did an experiment to show this using a projector and a bowl of milk. I introduced milk in small amounts to represent the scattering particles. The photograph shows what happened.
At sunset, when the light comes in at an angle, the light has to pass more particles to reach us. Thus more colours are scattered, leaving orange and red to reach us.
I did an experiment to show this using a projector and a bowl of milk. I introduced milk in small amounts to represent the scattering particles. The photograph shows what happened.
