The sky appears the color it appears because the sun's visible light rays are filtered out by the Earth's atmosphere. Blue skies are blue because all the other light waves are scattered and the blue light waves are the ones that actually reach our eyes. The sky is orange at sunset because of the thickness of the atmosphere that the light rays pass through. Here's a fun experiment you can try to see for yourself: First gather a glass of water, some milk, a flashlight, and a piece of paper. Stand the paper behind the glass and shine the flashlight through the water onto the paper. Add milk to the water, one drop at a time. The water in the glass should appear to turn blue and the flashlight disk will turn yellow. The milk has the same effect as particles in the atmosphere which scatter all but certain wavelengths of light. This is what makes the sky look blue and the sun look yellow.
The sky appears the color it appears because the sun's visible light rays are filtered out by the Earth's atmosphere. Blue skies are blue because all the other light waves are scattered and the blue light waves are the ones that actually reach our eyes. The sky is orange at sunset because of the thickness of the atmosphere that the light rays pass through. Here's a fun experiment you can try to see for yourself:
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