Why are Sunsets Red

Why are Sunsets Red If youre just like most people then you feel happy and excited about the beautiful scene of an orange-red sunset. Have you ever asked why are sunsets red? No? Well, go on reading and learn the knowledge to impress your school-aged boy who shows some interest in science The short answer to the question Why are Sunsets Red is because of the Scattering of Light. Light can be regarded as ray or particle. First, lets use the particle model. Our dear sun bombards the earth each day with tons of light particles called photons. Upon entering the atmosphere of our planet Earth these photons interact with the molecules in the air. Most of our atmosphere is made of Nitrogen molecules (N2). When photon hits a Nitrogen molecule it is absorbed and then re-emitted. Physicists would say these photons promote one of the electrons orbiting the Nitrogen nucleus into a higher level. But the new orbit of the electron is not stable. It spirals back to its previous state. When doing so it re-emits one photon. This absorption and emission process is call scattering of light. Now lets apply the ray (or wave) model to the light. Each wave or light has a wave length. It is the wave length which determines the color of light. Red light means a more longer wave length while blue denotes shorter length. Now lets apply our wavelength model to scattering: Shorter wave lengths (blue light) are scattered more intensely than red light. In fact, a small change in wave length has a large impact on scattering. To be precise, scattering is inversely proportional to the cube of the wavelength. In other words, shorter blue light gets scattered much more intensely than longer red light. Using our concept of scattering think of a red sun set as follows: The light coming from our sun as equal portions of red and blue light. Also think of the suns white light to consist only of blue and red components. The red light shines straight through the atmosphere while the shorter blue wave is scattered (washed out) and will shine on observers elsewhere. In other words sunsets are red because the blue light is washed out from the suns whole light spectrum. Only red light remains. Moreover, now you known why the sky is blue: These are the scattered photons criss-crossing our sky until they reach our eyes and do not participate in sun-sets. Setting the intricacies of physics aside, I like to share some trivia about worlds most beautiful sunset. While opinions differ and people would say sunsets are most beautiful in San Francisco, on a Caribbean cruise or in the middle of the sand-swept Sahara, there is a consensus for the worlds most appreciated sunset: This at Oia a place on the Greek island of Santorini. Hundreds gather nightly in Oia, taking up every last inch of space along its rock walls, stairs, gates and pathways to snap photos and give a loud and rousing round of applause as the sun sinks into the Aegean Sea. The last rays creating a spectacular light show over the whitewashed town.