Well here I go, taking something that’s all purdy and majestic and reducing it to plain old math and facts. The sunset, with all it’s glorious splendour, is caused by less than splendourous dust. Plain old dust hanging around the air.
It’s the way that the particles cause the radiating light to scatter, as explained by the mathematic Mie solution, that creates the multiple layers of colour. It’s the same thing going on when you shine a light through a prism and the white light seperates into our good buddy Roy G. Biv. (see also: Pink Floyd album covers) Due to the steep angle, the sun’s rays have to pass through more dust and air particles before you see it, causing the distortion.
The sunset is more vividly coloured than the sunrise because morning air is generally not as calm, so there are less suspended particles. Also, sunsets can be made more dramatic due to forest fires or volcanic eruptions adding more soot to the air. So general rule of thumb, the more you enjoy the sunset, the more you’ll be stuffed up in the morning.
There’s also a nifty little phenomenon cleverly called green flash, which is a brief, er, “flash” of green that can be spotted at the very tippy top of a setting sun. This effect usually can only be seen for a second or two near the end of a sunset.
- Read about it in the book “SurelyYou’re Joking Mr. Feynman” http://lsned.com/books/feynman
- Online Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset
