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Asked by bestchocqueen to Austin, Kirsty, Nicola, Nike, Sarah on 14 Jun 2012.
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Sarah Hart answered on 14 Jun 2012:
The sun is white i.e. the light particles [photons] emitted are a mix of all colours of light, but appears yellow from Earth due us viewing it through our atmosphere. The molecules of air through which we see the sun scatter the shorter wavelength light, which is the blue colour making the sky blue, so that we see yellow as the predominant colour of the sun. At the end of the day, when the setting sun’s light is viewed (at an angle) through even more atmosphere, it appears red because the yellower photons are being scattered.
http://planetfacts.org/why-is-the-sun-yellow/
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Austin Elliott answered on 14 Jun 2012:
BTW, slightly off-topic, but lots of modern biology depends upon ‘different colours of light’. Light is one of the best ways to examine what cells are doing, shining light on cells doesn’t harm them(if you don’t turn up the light power too much!) and you can use different wavelengths (colours) to measure different things at the same time. So ‘taking out’ some wavelengths and leaving others there (to make the light have a colour, which is sort of what the atmosphere does to the sun’s light) is an incredibly useful trick in science. One simple version is ‘filtering’ light with a red filter to have red light in a photo darkroom, but we do the same thing with our microscope lights.
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Kirsty Ross answered on 21 Jun 2012:
It won’t always be yellow. In about 4.5 billion years the surface of the sun will start to expand and it will become a red giant. At that point its outer surface will reach all the way out to us, so I doubt there will be anyone who can report on the colour of it!
Comments
bestchocqueen commented on :
i like your answer sarah hart it is more formal thanks for the info