Grade: 10 HUMAN EYE AND THE COLOURFUL WORLD

Question Answer
Why the colour of the clear sky is blue? The molecules of air and other fine particles in the
atmosphere are more effective in scattering light of shorter
wavelength (blue) than that of longer wavelength (red).
Why the sky appears dark to passengers flying at The sky appears dark to passengers flying at high altitudes,
high altitudes? as scattering is not prominent at such heights due to lack
Or of atmosphere.
Why sky appears dark instead of blue to an
Astronaut?
Why the sun and the sky appears reddish during When the sun is near the horizon during sunset or sunrise
sunrise and sunset? the sunlight passes through thicker layers of atmosphere
before reaching our eyes. Near the horizon, most of the
blue light and shorter wavelengths are scattered away by
the atmospheric particles. Hence the light that reaches our
eye is of longer wavelength i.e. the red light.
Why the sun and sky appears white during At noon, when the sun is overhead the light from the sun
noon? travels shorter distance and reaches the surface of the
earth. The scattering of blue and violet colour of light is
less.
Why ‘danger’ signals are red in colour? The red light is least scattered by fog or smoke. Hence it
can be seen over a long distance without much loss in its
intensity. For this reason, the danger signals are red in
colour.
Why clouds appear white? Clouds contain water droplets and large dust particles.
Their size is very large compared to the wavelength of the
incident light from the sun. They scatter all wavelengths of
light uniformly. Hence clouds appear white.
Why rainbows are not observed on the surface Rainbows are not observed on the surface of moon as
of moon? there are no water molecules present to disperse the
sunlight.
The sun is seen 2 minutes earlier than the actual This effect is due to atmospheric refraction of light. Near
sunrise and 2 minutes later than the sunset. the surface of the earth, air is denser than the outer space.
Explain Therefore, a ray of light travelling from the sun towards the
earth, travels through air of varying optical density. Due to
this, the light undergoes refraction and the apparent
position of the sun is slightly higher than its actual
position. Hence the sun appears 2 minutes earlier than the
actual sunrise.