Why is the sky at sunset usually red?

We all know that the sky is blue in the morning and the Sun is usually golden. But in the afternoon, the sky gradually turned red. Why is that ?

Sunrise and sunset are the two biggest and most beautiful times of the day, at dawn the Sun with its brilliant yellow color stands out against the soft blue sky creating a magnificent scene, then it's late afternoon. , both the Sun and the sky gradually turned red.

© Shane Carlton

So have you ever wondered why the Sun at sunset is red? Why is it red and not yellow or blue?

According to experts, the cause of this phenomenon is due to the phenomenon of light scattering in the atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere contains many small particles such as dust, ash; gases are mainly nitrogen (78.1%) and oxygen (20.9%) and water vapor; These components will reflect and scatter sunlight in different directions before reaching the human eye.

Sunlight consists of 7 different colors when it passes through the Earth's atmosphere, they will collide with oxygen and nitrogen gas molecules, short wavelength blue and purple are often scattered more than red. or gold with a longer wavelength.

During the day, the blue and purple colors are scattered throughout the sky, so we often see the sky background is often blue. But at dusk, during the time when the sun is in the lower part of the horizon, the distance the sun's rays pass through the atmosphere is 30% longer than during the day, which means they will scatter more. times by more gas molecules.

At this time, the blue and purple colored light is scattered many times and cannot reach our human eyes, only red and orange light is less scattered so it reaches the human eye (red is the color red). color with the longest wavelength in the visible spectrum).

This is why we often see the sky at sunset so often red. Or on cloudy days, light is reflected in many lanes through the clouds, making the sky red, and vice versa, on cloudy days, the sky background is often red with a little yellow.

In addition, sunlight is the factor behind helping to create rainbows after the rains. Specifically, water vapor in the rain acts as a prism, it separates sunlight into different monochromatic lights, so rainbows appear during or after the rains are like that.

© Shane Carlton

ShaneCarlton.status@gmail.com