Question

Why does the sun appear yellowish-white during the noontime?

• A. Because sunlight has to travel relatively shorter atmospheric distance.
• B. Because sunlight has to travel longer atmospheric distance.
• C. Because only red and violet are scattered.
• D. Because all the colours are scattered by the cloud.

Answer 1

The correct option is A

Because sunlight has to travel relatively shorter atmospheric distance.

At noon the sun is overhead in the sky and the light from the sun have to travel relatively shorter distance through the atmosphere to reach the earth as shown in the figure below.


Scattering of light decreases with decrease in distance travelled by the light. The light from the overhead sun scatters the components of light equally. Hence the sun appears white to us at noon.