What is the colour of sunlight when scattered by the air molecules in the atmosphere?

Question

Question

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RRB JE CBT I - (Held On: 2 June 2019 Shift 1)

Answer 1

The correct answer is Blue

Key Points

Blue is the color of sunlight when scattered by the air molecules in the atmosphere.
This phenomenon is known as Rayleigh scattering, which occurs more effectively at shorter wavelengths.
Shorter wavelengths of light, such as blue and violet, are scattered more than longer wavelengths like red and yellow.
However, our eyes are more sensitive to blue light and less to violet light, making the sky appear blue to us.

Additional Information

Rayleigh scattering is named after the British scientist Lord Rayleigh, who first described it in the 19th century.
This scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength, hence shorter wavelengths scatter more.
At sunrise and sunset, the light path through the atmosphere is longer, causing more scattering of shorter wavelengths and leaving the longer wavelengths like red and orange, which is why the sky appears these colors at those times.