A science museum is designing a demonstration to explain why the sky appears blue during the day but takes on reddish hues during sunrise and sunset. Which explanation best accounts for these observations based on the scattering of light in the atmosphere?
Shorter wavelengths scatter more strongly, while longer atmospheric paths at sunset favour red wavelengths.
Shorter wavelengths (blue/violet) are scattered far more strongly by air molecules than longer wavelengths (red), which is why the sky looks blue during the day (Rayleigh scattering).
At sunrise and sunset, sunlight travels a much longer path through the atmosphere, so almost all the blue light is scattered away before it reaches the observer, and the remaining longer-wavelength red/orange light dominates.
Hence, this is the correct answer.correctly explains both observations.
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Important Questions from Optics
Who was the first one to use a glass prism to obtain the spectrum of sunlight?
Twinkling of stars is due to:
Which one of the following colours is least deviated by the glass prism?
In which a convex mirror is used?
A. Rear View mirrors in vehicles
B. Glass windows
C. Makeup Mirror
D. Kaleidoscope
What is the reason for formation of Mirage in desert?
