why is the color of the sky blue

The color of the sky appears blue because of a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. As sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, it encounters molecules of gases such as nitrogen and oxygen. These molecules scatter the sunlight in all directions.

However, blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more than other colors, which means that it reaches our eyes from all directions. This is why we see the sky as blue during the day.

At sunset and sunrise, the sun is lower in the sky and the light has to travel through more of the Earth's atmosphere to reach us. This causes the blue light to be scattered even more, and other colors such as red and orange are able to reach our eyes more easily, which is why the sky appears to be shades of red and orange during these times.