Why the Sky is Blue

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Why the Sky is Blue

• By Natalie Schafer

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Introduction
Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? I
was curious as to why the sky was blue opposed
to any of the other colors on the visible
spectrum. Why not orange? Or purple?
This power point presentation will strech your
minds to the SKY with knowledge as to why the sky
is blue.
Other Biggie Questions Mrs. Pecks
Physic Homepage
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Science

• Visible Light, also known as white light, is the
  only part of the electromagnetic spectrum that
  can be seen by the human eye.

White light has all the colors of the visible
spectrum. The colors are red, orange, yellow,
green blue, indigo and violet, abbreviated as Roy
G. Biv. All of these colors can be shown when
sunlight passes through a prism it separates the
light into distinctive colors. Humans vision
responds more to green, red and blue wavelengths
All the colors combined together form white
light.
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Newton

• Isaac Newton was the first to discover the color
  spectrum

• He placed a triangle shaped prism in front of a
  beam of sunlight. On the other side of the prism
  showed the full color spectrum.

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Light Scatters

• The scattering of sunlight causes the blue color
  of the sky
• The Nitrogen and Oxygen atoms in the atmosphere
  have an effect on sunlight which scatters through
  them
• The wavelength of the light is much larger than
  the particles it scatters
• Out of the three colors that respond most to the
  human eye red, green and blue, blue has the
  longest wavelength

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Vocabulary

• Visible Light- The part of the electromagnetic
  spectrum that your eyes can see
• Scatter- To absorb sound or light and redirect
  the sound or light in all directions
• Frequency- The number of repetitions per unit of
  time of a light wave
• Wavelength- The distance between one peak or
  crest of a wave of light and the next
  corresponding peak or crest
• Rayleigh Scattering- The scattering of
  electromagnetic radiation by particles, resulting
  in the separation of colors in the color spectrum
• Electromagnetic Spectrum- A full range of
  frequencies

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Graph

• I asked 20 adults if they knew what caused the
  sky to be blue.
• This was there response

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Related LinksThe following sites were used to
learn as to why the sky is blue.

• How Stuff Works - This website was great for an
  introduction of the concept as to why the sky is
  blue.
• Hyper Physics - This site gave me a detailed
  explanation to Rayleigh and Mie Scattering
• Usenet Physics FAQ - This site gave simple
  explanations to help gain a better understanding
  of the information
• Wikipedia - This site gave me a greater
  understanding of Rayleighs scattering

Biggie Questions
Mrs. Pecks Physics Homepage