If the sky is blue because of the color of ocean why are sunsets golden?

United States
June 12, 2008 1:38am CST
Some people say the sky is blue because of the reflection of the sun light from the ocean then how would you explain at sunset the sky is golden?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@alcazar (761)
• India
12 Jun 08
It is becouse angle at which it is scattered ...like when when noon when we see the sky blue becouse blue wavelength gets scattered and in the evening its the red wavelength which gets scattered....
• United States
16 Jun 08
I agree, the sun light travels a longer distance through the air at sunset which causes the blue to be scattered away and most of the red is scattered towards earth.
@timoboll (80)
• New Zealand
19 Jun 08
Here's the full explanation: The sun's light rays enter the Earth;s atmosphere and due to the differences in optical density between the atmosphere and space, the light rays are refracted. Red is refracted less and blue is refracted more, therefore in the morning, when the Earth is on a greater angle to the sun (in terms of where you are viewing from), the red light is refracted so that it fills the sky. The same happens when the sun sets. As with the sky being blue during day time, that is due to the same effect but since during day time the viewing angle is less, blue is viewed. Note: The ocean isn't blue because it is reflecting the blue sky, the ocean is blue because water IS blue. Water has a slight blue hue that is visible in large amounts. That is why oceans (large amounts of water) are blue but bottles filled with water (small amount) are not!
@ferdzNK (3211)
• Philippines
14 Jun 08
I think it has something to do with light's wave length. From the observers point of view the shortest distance from the light source which is the sun is at noon time and the longest distance is during sunrise or sunset. Which mean blue has a shorter wavelength while red has longest. Of source light has to travel through different medium and the properties of reflection and refraction tends to influence that shade of color to what we normally see.