What colour is the sky

[TrogL]

Poll question: What colour is the sky

This comes from bad memories of elementary school. We had a teacher who was really into having the class chant cliches and really obvious stuff. I'd get in all sorts of trouble for pointing out stuff like when we were doing "the sky is blue" that it was, in fact, grey because it was raining. Off to the principal's office - again.

The sky appears blue on a cloudless day because it's reflecting back water vapour in the air. Water is blue in large quantities, hence blue ocean. If water accumulates into larger structures it appears white if illuminated or grey if not.

At night, when the water vapour in the air isn't illuminated, the sky appears black, except for the dots of stars and planets, which tend to appear white except in obvious cases like Mars or Sirius. If you look through a powerful telescope, you can see more stars forever and ever until you run out of universe. Theoretically, you're seeing back in time to the "big bang", which was likely white.

So, is the sky...

[rcrush]

1. Thats what the teacher told you in elementary school?

[TrogL]

2. No, it was part of a stupid chant

Went something like

The clouds are white
the sky is blue
the grass is green
we go to school

...in the middle of a freaking snow storm.

[Sky Masterson]

3. I'm white

;)

[jschurchin]

4. It's white right now.

But check back with me later, you know about 7:30ish this evening. It will probably be black then.

[hobbit709]

5. Marmalade

[AsahinaKimi]

6. In San Francisco..it always seems to be Grey ..

[canoeist52]

7. I'm alway challanging my art students to see what colors they see

-Not what colors they think they see.

What colors are in rocks?
How many colors can you find in a snow pic.? (snow reflects the sky too)
What color make up tree trunks?
When you paint skin, don't forget to use blues, greens and purples.