Suppose you are outside watching the sunset. The sky is mostly clear except for a few puffy clouds right above you. The sun has just gone down over the horizon so you can no longer see it. Explain why the clouds above your head appear to be red by describing what happens to the light on its journey from the sun to the clouds and then to your eyes. (Note. Refraction, which causes light to follow a slightly curved path through the atmosphere and which was not covered in the reading, is not required to explain the answer to this question. The clouds are above you, so there can be a direct line from cloud level to the sun, even though you cannot directly see the sun at ground level.)

Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Foundations and Connections
1st Edition
ISBN:9781133939146
Author:Katz, Debora M.
Publisher:Katz, Debora M.
Chapter38: Refraction And Images Formed By Refraction
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 31PQ: Light is incident on a prism as shown in Figure P38.31. The prism, an equilateral triangle, is made...
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Suppose you are outside watching the sunset. The sky is mostly clear except for a few puffy clouds right above you. The sun has just gone down over the horizon so you can no longer see it. Explain why the clouds above your head appear to be red by describing what happens to the light on its journey from the sun to the clouds and then to your eyes. (Note. Refraction, which causes light to follow a slightly curved path through the atmosphere and which was not covered in the reading, is not required to explain the answer to this question. The clouds are above you, so there can be a direct line from cloud level to the sun, even though you cannot directly see the sun at ground level.)

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