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Sunlight looks white, but the daytime sky itself is a distinct color that has a physical explanation involving how light interacts with air molecules.

Why does the sky appear blue?

Air molecules scatter shorter blue wavelengths of sunlight much more than longer red wavelengths
This is Rayleigh scattering: air molecules scatter shorter, higher-frequency wavelengths like blue far more efficiently than longer wavelengths like red, spreading blue light across the whole sky, and at sunrise and sunset, sunlight travels through much more atmosphere, scattering away nearly all the blue and leaving the reds and oranges we see.

The sky looks blue because of a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering: as sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, tiny air molecules scatter shorter, blue wavelengths of light far more strongly than longer, red wavelengths, spreading blue light across the entire sky in every direction you look.

The sky isn't simply reflecting the ocean's color, since the sky appears blue even above deserts and mountains far from any large body of water, and the ozone layer's job is mainly absorbing harmful ultraviolet light, not selectively filtering visible colors to leave only blue.

At sunrise and sunset, sunlight travels through a much thicker slice of atmosphere to reach your eyes, scattering away nearly all the blue light along the way and leaving the reds and oranges that make those skies look so different from midday.

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