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Similar to how energy passes through an ocean, all light energy travels in waves.
Blue, indigo and violet light travels in short choppy waves, while red, orange and yellow light travels in long lazy waves.
Light also travels in a straight path, unless something gets in the way and either reflects it (like a mirror), bends it (like a prism) or scatters it (like particles in the atmosphere).
Still with us?
Now that we have a good understanding of sunlight, our atmosphere, and how light travels, let’s see how they all interact to create that beautiful blue sky we all know and love.
When light comes from the sun, all these light waves of different wavelengths travel through empty space.
Because the blue, indigo and violet light waves are similar in size to the nitrogen and oxygen molecules in our atmosphere, they run into each other and bounce and scatter in all directions, painting our sky in glorious shades of blue.
The red, yellow, and orange lightwaves are larger than the nitrogen and oxygen molecules, so they easily pass through.
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