How Does Rayleigh Scattering ACTUALLY Work? (The Blue Sky)

Question 1: Are skies on other planets a different color? Yes, absolutely! For example, the sky on Mars is pink! This is because the martian atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide and filled with dust. Different atmospheric compositions means different colors. Dust, ash, and even water droplets can affect how scattering works. Question 2: Why does the sky look transparent from space? Because the blue in the sky isn't actually that bright (relatively speaking). The light from Rayleigh scattering is only about 2-3% of the total light arriving from the Sun. The reason we see it from the ground is because there's only the black emptiness of space behind it. If you're looking down from space, the other 97-98% of the light is scattering off the solid and liquid surface of the Earth. It overpowers the blue sky. Question 3: By absorb, do you mean electrons jumping orbitals? No 🤦‍♂️ I said at 2:34 that we're talking about classical physics here. No quantum mechanics. No Einstein's relativity. There is more than one type of absorption. I talk about this in the following video: https://youtu.be/1n_otIs6z6E Question 4: Isn't all purple light a combination of red and blue? Most of it is, but a tiny fraction of it is monochromatic. The monochromatic stuff just isn't very visible. I've taught many classes where I show the students the Hydrogen spectrum, which has a purple line at 410 nm. It's monochromatic purple, but at best only 50% of a class full of students can see it

I’m glad Clone asks these questions

You're trying to actually explain how it works rather than give a simplified solution is what sets your channel apart from every other. You're the best, Nick. Keep doing this. <3

I have been wondering for a long time why there's no better explanation of why the sky is blue on YouTube considering the phenomena is way more complex. You just did it. And I would like to go even deeper. One question that usually arises in physics courses is how does the scattering wins over the fact that light, in the resonant frequency of atmospheric molecules, is the most absorbed by those molecules. It is the kind of topic that seems extremely simple but has a lot of devil in the details, and makes you wonder about the colors of the skies of other planets, with other chemical compositions, densities and vertical structures. Fascinating topic. Thank you!

I have a 4 year old. Not only has she asked me recently about the sky being blue.... But because she loves Go Fish, I was like, "Question Clone just went twice??!?" She's a pretty good crazy apparently.

This is like the most amazing science channel on Youtube

Great shout out to the Knowing Better channel! I was gonna comment, " And now you know better" but you beat me to it.

Q: Why is the sky blue? A: Because it is sad. Q: Why is the sky sad? A: Because Question Clone stole its turn.

Keep up with the deep questions, that's the thing I love bout this channel

What makes Nick Lucid's videos especially unique is the very fact that, he as a professional physist, explains physical phenomena at a profound level without utilizing complex mathematics. The majority of videos merely focus on superficial explanations or incredibly difficult mathematical derivations. You sir, have found, the exquisite compromise between clearity and complexity. Thanks again.

I've noticed that when the sun is high in the sky, the sky looks whiter towards the horizon and bluer towards the zenith.

When I do a fire prevention talk for sixth grade children in their science class, I like to show them the thermal imaging camera. I explain that the camera can see through smoke for the same reason that the sky is blue and then explain, in very simple terms, about Rayleigh scattering. I then explain that the wavelength of the long wave IR that our bodies give off is so much longer than visible light that even smoke cannot scatter it. It's good to let them see how things are related in the world. Then I show them an image of someone wearing glasses and explain that, even though glass is transparent to visible light, it's totally opaque to long IR.

WOW... just realize you are at almost 200k subs. I found your channel when you had around 7k. You're proof that if you make good content, your channel will grow... doesn't matter how "saturated" the market for educational videos is, like some people say. Hope you keep growing and making awesome content.

This is awesome! I've been reading articles and watching videos in the past few days to better my understanding of this. Your video is the first that explains the concepts so clearly in sequence. Thanks for going deep and breaking things down with great graphics and clear explanations!!

Almost every single episode deals with problems that I knew/heard/have had explained before. It's just that this guy very often adds a different viewpoint, profoundly enhancing my own insights and understanding. Thank you very much!!

Years late but your fans would love to hear you explaining stuff other people have touched on because you make it so much easier to understand and explain in great detail. Been binging all your videos

No thumb down accettable for this absolutely super video. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

I would say this is by far the most satisfying explanation that I have heard for this question.

There may have been a lot of videos made before this but I'm glad you made this one. It is definitely one of the more definitive videos of light scattering. Thanks.

I'm really glad Clone asked these questions