COLUMBIA, S.C. — It has been absolutely gorgeous this week with nothing but blue skies. But have you ever sat down and why the sky is blue?
This seemingly simple question can easily be explained by the world around us and it comes down to some science including some physics and chemistry.
Let’s start with the makeup of our atmosphere. You might think that Oxygen makes up most of our atmosphere since it is what we breathe but, as it turns out it only makes up 21 percent of what covers the Earth. Nitrogen on the other hand makes up the majority of what we breathe at 78 percent. Other gasses including Argon, greenhouse gasses, and Helium make up around the remaining 1 percent.
Because Nitrogen and Oxygen make up most of our atmosphere they are mostly what interacts with incoming sunshine. We know the white light from the Sun can be split into different colors as seen in rainbows. It turns out that these two molecules are only good at scattering blue light from sunshine. Because this blue gets sent in all directions our eye see the sky as blue.
Now that we discussed why the sky is actually blue, hopefully over the coming days you are getting outside and are able to enjoy some of this nice weather and appreciate that blue sky overhead.
