Question

With the help of scattering of light, explain the reason for the difference in colours of the sun as it appears during the sunset/sunrise and noon.

Answer 1

Scattering of light

Explanation:

Sun right travels through the atmosphere to reach us. At sunrise and sunset, the sun is at the horizon and the sunlight has to travel longer distance to reach the Earth's surface. Atmosphere consists of gases, dust and other particles. These particles will scatter the light causing the shorter wavelength light rays to scatter away. So the light that reaches the surface is only the longer wave length light rays, which is red. So the sky appears to be red in colour during sunset and sunrise.

At noon, the sun is at the least distance from the Earth's surface, so the scattering away of the smaller wavelength light rays is also minimal. So we are able to see the blue colour of the sky.