Sunsets
The incredible beauty of a sunset! You just can’t beat it. What causes these sometimes intense, sometimes pastel colors? Here is a simple explanation. Sunlight is composed of a spectrum of colors that ranges from violet’s and blue’s at one end to orange’s and red’s on the other. At sunrise or sunset, sunlight takes a much longer path through the atmosphere than during the middle part of the day. More violet and blue ligh
t is scattered out of the beam along the way, and so the light which reaches the human eye early or late in the day is reddened. So the conclusion is that sunsets are red because the daytime sky is blue. (Please don't ask me why the sky is blue.) Pollution softens the sky's colors, because the particles of dust and dirt are scattered and are of varying sizes, so the wavelengths sunlight of light passing through the particles are mixed. This lets us see muted tones, more in the middle of the spectrum. The best sunsets happen when there are clouds at all the different levels of the atmosphere. The clouds are hit by the suns rays before they pass through the lower atmosphere, where the air has more particles. So the bright reds, pink and oranges we see are filtered through the clouds and atmosphere to give us those breath taking sunsets you will never forget. If you still don't quite understand how the colors glow in the sky, don't be concerned--just enjoy!
t is scattered out of the beam along the way, and so the light which reaches the human eye early or late in the day is reddened. So the conclusion is that sunsets are red because the daytime sky is blue. (Please don't ask me why the sky is blue.) Pollution softens the sky's colors, because the particles of dust and dirt are scattered and are of varying sizes, so the wavelengths sunlight of light passing through the particles are mixed. This lets us see muted tones, more in the middle of the spectrum. The best sunsets happen when there are clouds at all the different levels of the atmosphere. The clouds are hit by the suns rays before they pass through the lower atmosphere, where the air has more particles. So the bright reds, pink and oranges we see are filtered through the clouds and atmosphere to give us those breath taking sunsets you will never forget. If you still don't quite understand how the colors glow in the sky, don't be concerned--just enjoy!
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