Page 2 - Lesson note scattering of light

The sun appears red at sun rise and sun set:
The sun and the surrounding sky appear red at sunrise and sun set because at the
time most of the bule colour present in the sun light has been scattered out and
away from our line of sight,leaving behind mainly red colour in the direct sun light
beam thar reaches our eyes.

At the time of sun rise and sunset, when the sun is near the horizon, the sun light
has to travel the greatest distance through the atmosphere to reach us. During this
long journey of sun light,most of the shorter wave length blue-colour present in it
scattered out and away from our line of sight.So the light reaching us directly from
the rising sun or setting sun consists mainly of longer wave length red colour due to
which the sun appears red.

The sun appears white when it is over head in the sky:

When the sun is over head( at noon) the light coming from the sun has to travel a
relatively shorter distance through the atmosphere to reach us.During the short

2