Ancient mystery of why the sky is blue!?

[Likely Guy]

Mister Orange says,

That this was a most long day,

The day ends today.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Now, if only someone would explain to me why an orange is orange.

it's not - it's blue.

[stereologist]

I remember a well known political radio show host once telling people that the sky is blue because the sky reflects the ocean color.

Another thing I like ot see is TV shows in which the white hazy sky is replaced with a red-brown filter making it look like the air is putrid and fouled. I gag every time I see it.

I didn't make it to all of the links, but this is about Rayleigh scattering isn't it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering

[Junior Chubb]

What a great thread, it made my jacket potato with chicken curry so much more enjoyable (and also cold by the time I finished it)...

I would like to thank Iron_Lotus for the nodding Gif, the first time I have ever enjoyed Star Trek.

Also thanks to OP79 for explaining the obvious in a nice courteous manner.

Thanks to for ImaginaryNumber1 for another picture that summed things up quite well.

But the biggest thanks goes to the man who made this all possible... MERC12.

[Harte]

Sorry, i was just answering why the sky is blue on here, not your unproven scientific data that you haven't proven on here as i have already proven!

You have "proven" nothing at all.

You've merely expressed an opinion. An ignorant opinion, in fact.

If you would like to claim that you have "proven" that blue oxygen makes the sky blue, don't you think you might want to prove that oxygen is blue?

You realize, don't you, that the atmosphere is largely nitrogen. What color is the nitrogen?

Harte

[Ealdwita]

I'm surprised the OP hasn't been back on line!

[cladking]

I'm surprised no one has disputed the sky is blue. How come everyone seems to think that blue

is the same color to everyone? I think the whole argument started with confusion and just got

worse and worse. That's why I'm here; it can get even worse.

The science types are always so sure of themselves and their arguments but they essentially

prove the sky is blue by showing that it's not blue at all and only appears to be " blue" (what-

ever that is). But how can the sky reflect light on a cloudy day, eh? Usually all I see is white,

or black, and (yes) even orange). Sometimes it can even be blue and obviousaly this can't be

reflection so the entire pseudo-scientific answer must be cast aside (cue Bones and Kirk).

Frankly I'm unimpressed by all the answers so why not just call it "that above which appears

to be a color called blue on cloudless days when the sun is up unless it's too smoggy or there

are things to obscure the sight"? We can leave it to the philosophers to determine whether each

persons' concept of "blue" is the same or not. Of course "that above which appears

to be a color called blue on cloudless days when the sun is up unless it's too smoggy or there

are things to obscure the sight" is just ever so slightly unwieldy for day to day communication

so we can nickname it something easy toi remember. In the interest of simplicity (I am a mini-

malist) we could call it "sky" and just drop the nonsense that it's blue altogether. It's too damn

confusing anyway since if you make the uneducated assertion thaty the sky is blue someone

might mistakingly believe you mean "blew" or that it's windy outside. If you step out and see overcast

you might logically conclude the sky blew away and that something white took its place.

Mebbe we shouldda all stood in bed.

[orangepeaceful79]

And to think where this thread actually started. My, my. How it has grown. *feels nostalgia piling up* I think I'm gonna cry. Oh wait. sorry. that was just gas. False alarm!

[Q-C]

If your veins appear blueish in color, you should wear cool colors: Pinks, purples, etc

If however, your veins appear greenish in color, you should wear warmer colors: Reds, oranges, etc

Source: Bravo TV

Ooops. Was that off topic?

[Imaginarynumber1]

If your veins appear blueish in color, you should wear cool colors: Pinks, purples, etc

If however, your veins appear greenish in color, you should wear warmer colors: Reds, oranges, etc

Source: Bravo TV

Ooops. Was that off topic?

I think that's the most on topic this thread has been in pages....

[E. L. Wisty]

Since this is supposed to be an Ancient Mystery, it's probably worth pointing out (though too late for OP - I guess he's back on the compulsory lithium after they caught him tying knots in puppies again) that the Ancient Egyptians solved the mystery conclusively. The sky is the lower abdomen of the blue-skinned goddess Nut (not another dig at OP - she's a real mythical person, and it's pronounced "noot") who is forced to spend eternity in an uncomfortable arched position because she was made to stand thus by the primordial sun-god Ra, on account of her unfortunate habit of constantly having sex with her brother Geb the earth-god (which, incidentally, makes this one of the very few ancient cosmologies with an earth-father and a sky-mother rather than the other way round), thus squashing everything in between. Oh, by the way, at night Nut comes out in a sort of luminous god-measles and that's what stars are. I'm not making this up - if you're an Ancient Egyptian, you have to believe it! Though, all things considered, if you're reading this, you probably aren't an Ancient Egyptian.

Edited August 30, 2012 by E. L. Wisty

[Hugo Stiglitz]

why does crap stink? who really cares?

[Saru]

Given that the OP has managed to derail his own thread by the fifth post there's isn't much point in keeping this going.

Closed.