The Purple Sky Illusion
The real scientific reason the sky is blue, and why your brain is actually lying to you about its true color.
About this video
The real scientific reason the sky is blue, and why your brain is actually lying to you about its true color.
Full transcript of The Purple Sky Illusion
You’ve looked at the sky your whole life, but you probably don't know why it's blue. Most people think it’s just reflecting the oceans. Others swear it's the natural color of oxygen. Both of those theories are completely wrong. The sun pumps out white light, which is actually a hidden rainbow. When this light hits our atmosphere, it crashes into tiny gas molecules. Long, lazy light waves like red and yellow pass straight through. But blue light waves are short and choppy. They collide with the gases and scatter violently in every direction. This phenomenon is called Rayleigh scattering. But here is the massive twist that changes everything. Violet light is even shorter and scatters much more than blue. Meaning the sky above you is technically a vibrant purple. But the human eye is biologically terrible at seeing violet. Your brain edits the image, leaving you with a perfectly blue sky.