Sunlight may look white, but it contains many colors. A rainbow helps us see those colors when sunlight passes through drops of water.
Fun fact: Raindrops can separate sunlight too—that is one way a rainbow appears.
Follow sunlight through the air and discover where blue skies and red sunsets come from.
Why Is the Sky Blue?
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Earth has a blanket of air around it. Tiny molecules in that air scatter sunlight in different directions.
Fun fact: The air is mostly invisible, even though it is all around us.
Blue light scatters more easily than red and orange light. Scattered blue light reaches our eyes from all across the daytime sky.
Fun fact: The blue color is not a blue roof above Earth-it is sunlight arriving from different directions.
Near sunset, sunlight travels through more air before reaching us. Much of its blue light scatters away from the direct path, so the Sun and nearby sky can look orange or red.
Fun fact: Every sunset is sunlight taking the scenic route!