Is the Sky Blue Because It Reflects the Sea? Science Fiction

Welcome to Science Fiction -

the TV show which stamps out superstitions...

Using hard scientific evidence. Oh, look, a leprechaun!

BUD-E, what's today's question, please?

Today's question is from Walter in Gibraltar.

Sunlight is energy, which travels in waves all from the sun

and helps us to see the world around us.

This light is made up of an entire spectrum of colour, like a rainbow.

Red, orange, yellow, pink, Sleepy, Happy, Dopey...

Each colour within the spectrum has a wavelength of different size.

Wavelength - is that how long a person can keep waiting for?

For example, orange and red wavelengths are quite long.

Violet and blue are short.

Fair enough. Everyone's different.

As the sun's light approaches Earth, it hits our atmosphere

and the waves scatter in different directions.

The first to get scattered are the short ones.

The blue ones. That's why the sky is blue.

Come here, Doctor. The sky isn't always blue.

Well, at sunset, the light has more atmosphere to travel through.

More waves get scattered, including orange and red ones.

I love a good sunset, I do. It's very rosemantic.

So the sky being blue is nothing to do with reflecting the sea.

So, that's just a load of old science fiction.

# Science fiction. #

When I was a small boy, my mammy told me

don't stare into the sun or I'll go stupid.

But I still did.