this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2026
1078 points (98.7% liked)

Science Memes

21039 readers
584 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] isleepinahammock@lemmy.blahaj.zone 133 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I liked a version of this (I believe) XKCD said once.

A perfectly valid response to the question, "why is the sky blue?" is simply, "because air is blue."

Yes, you can give a lot of explanation about refractive index and Rayleigh scattering. But all this does is provide details of how light interacts with air. And the same reason anything is the color that it is is due to the way it reflects, transmits, or absorbs light. You're citing real scientific principles, but you're ultimately just explaining why air is blue.

[–] bullsworth@pawb.social 78 points 6 days ago

It's a very good relevant XKCD.

The title text is more directly applicable: If you ask "why are leaves green?" the usual answer is "because they're full of chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is green," even though "why does chlorophyll scatter green light?" is a great question too.

[–] Redditmodstouchgrass@lemmy.zip 22 points 6 days ago (4 children)

"Don't breathe air, it has sharks in it! BLUE HAS SHARKS IN IT!" -The funny purple man

[–] senseamidmadness@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 4 days ago

"BLUEBERRIES ARE FUCKING PURPLE!"

[–] prex@aussie.zone 6 points 6 days ago

First if all: don't name your kid brayden.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] brown567@sh.itjust.works 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Better question: "Why is the sky usually blue but sometimes red?"

Talking specifically about sunsets, not apocalyptic wildfire smoke

[–] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

Incidentally it's the same reason between a sunset and smoke - more scattering.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 17 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

But it's an incomplete answer.

"air is invisible at short distances, blue at longer distances, and takes on red green and orange at sunset" would be better

[–] isleepinahammock@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 6 days ago (9 children)

The same is true for all colors. Tell me the color of a single atom.

Yes, air can be colors other than blue at unusual light conditions, like sunset. But the same is true for any material.

You're stuck on the urge to explain. You call "the air is blue" incomplete. But all answers are incomplete. When someone asks what color an object is, they mean under ordinary distances and conditions. Air is blue even in an ordinary room. It just takes miles worth of air for its slight blue color to be noticeable.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] rethnor@lemmy.zip 39 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Except the sun isn't yellow, it's white with a slight bias towards green.

Want to check, put something white outside, it looks white, not yellow.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 50 points 6 days ago (4 children)

The reason the sun appears to be yellow is the same reason that the sky appears to be blue.

Blue light is scattered more by the air in the atmosphere than other wavelengths. Remove blue from white light and you get yellow. So the light coming from the sun that isn't scattered and dispersed through the sky (making the sky look blue) is yellow.

[–] rethnor@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Still, the sun is white. Sun light is white.

Are you saying the blue light is removed from the spectrum when it's passes through the atmosphere? I assume you aren't since you said scattered, but also imply the sun is yellow because blue is removed.

If we're talking about sun light during sunrise or sunset then yes it gets red at more extreme angles. But the sun isn't that color all day.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 4 points 6 days ago

And here's the correct answer, boys and girls.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Allero@lemmy.today 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Neither water is blue

They take us for absolute fools

Maybe not the water you drink (chugs Gatorade frost)

That's why I never developed super powers.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Zerush@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago

Science is making mistakes towards to the truth

[–] Digit@lemmy.today 10 points 6 days ago (3 children)
[–] Naz@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

Blue waves fast Red waves slow

Easy as

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›