Why is the sky blue, and sunsets red or orange?

The sky is blue during the day because light from the sun travels through Earth’s atmosphere and gets scattered by tiny particles in the air.

Light is like a group of dancers, different colors move differently. Blue light, being smaller, bounces around more easily in the atmosphere, so it goes everywhere we look, making the sky appear blue.

When the sun is low on the horizon during sunset, its light has to travel through more of Earth’s atmosphere than when it's straight up. This longer journey means more scattering happens, the blue and green lights are scattered away, leaving behind the red and orange colors.

Imagine you're looking at a big orange in your hand, that warm, cozy color is what's left after all the lighter colors have been filtered out, just like during sunset.

So next time you see a bright blue sky or a fiery red sunset, you'll know it’s just light dancing its way through the air!