Question

At sun rise or at sun set the sun appears to be reddish while at mid day it looks white. This is because

• A. Scattering due to dust particles and air molecules causes this phenomenon
• B. The sun is cooler at sun rise or at sunset
• C. Refraction causes this phenomenon
• D. Diffraction sends red rays to the earth at these times

Answer 1

The correct option is A Scattering due to dust particles and air molecules causes this phenomenon

It is due to scattering of light. At noon, the sun is at the nearest point to earth. Hence all the colors get scattered almost equally and this you see white light.

But during sunrise and sunset, the sun is at the longest position. Here blue light gets scattered off and due to larger wavelength of the red light it can travel a longer distance and hence reach our eyes. This we see the sun red.

Option A is correct.