Mondo Knows Facts
Rayleigh scattering makes the daytime sky blue
Air molecules scatter short blue wavelengths far more strongly than long red ones Tiny molecules in the atmosphere redirect sunlight in all directions, and the effect grows sharply as wavelength falls. Blue light is scattered roughly five times as much as red, so it reaches your eye from every part of the sky. Without an atmosphere the sky would look black even at noon. It sits in Mondo's science collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: light, atmosphere, optics
Rayleigh scattering makes the daytime sky blue: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Air molecules scatter short blue wavelengths far more strongly than long red ones. The figure is taken from NASA, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a science fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Science shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.