simple question about the sky...??

[etzina]

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hi guys, nakabantay lang jud ko bah... why man during the day kung padung ulan ang mga clouds kay mu itom? pero kung sa gabii puti man ang clouds then reddish2x sad ang sky?

[vanschen]

reddish ang sky nightime tungod sa sodium lamps i think.

[etzina]

im talking about the sky kanang padulong ug ulan.... during the day ug during the night...

hmmm what are sodium lamps ? and can u explain ngano naka affect ni sya sa color sa sky?

[fritzd]

I am tempted not to answer because of the forum rules of this section. But anyway here it goes, for your question about the sky appearing orange at night. That is what you call light pollution. The orange/red light you see is the reflected/scattered light from the city. All of our lights contribute to this street lamps, household lights, building lights, etc.. This is the main problem for astronomers and astrophotographers when viewing the night sky.

As for you 1st question, you do know of course that darkness is the absence of light? Thick clouds mean that light can not penetrate for us to it so it appears dark because of the great amount of water vapor present. This is also gives you a hint that it is going to rain sooner or later.

[insect111]

a nice explanation from wikipedia:

"The color of a cloud, as seen from the Earth, tells much about what is going on inside the cloud. Clouds form when water vapor is light enough to rise due to becoming warmer than its surrounding. As it rises it cools and the vapor condenses out of the air as micro-droplets. These tiny particles of water are densely packed and sunlight cannot penetrate far into the cloud before it is reflected out, giving a cloud its characteristic white color. As a cloud matures, the droplets may combine to produce larger droplets, which may combine to form droplets large enough to fall as rain. By this process of accumulation, the space between droplets becomes increasingly larger, permitting light to penetrate farther into the cloud. If the cloud is sufficiently large and the droplets within are spaced far enough apart, it may be that a percentage of the light which enters the cloud is not reflected back out before it is absorbed. A simple example of this is being able to see farther in heavy rain than in heavy fog. This process of reflection/absorption is what causes the range of cloud color from white to black. For the same reason, the undersides of large clouds and heavy overcasts can appear as various degrees of grey shades, depending on how much light is being reflected or transmitted back to the observer."

Cloud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[joyce_mj21]

mao mudark ang clouds if padung ulan kay tungod man na sa water nga nakastore sa iya that is about to be release through rain. part na sya sa water cycle man siguro if i am not mistaken.

[bisayang chick]

a nice explanation from wikipedia:

"The color of a cloud, as seen from the Earth, tells much about what is going on inside the cloud. Clouds form when water vapor is light enough to rise due to becoming warmer than its surrounding. As it rises it cools and the vapor condenses out of the air as micro-droplets. These tiny particles of water are densely packed and sunlight cannot penetrate far into the cloud before it is reflected out, giving a cloud its characteristic white color. As a cloud matures, the droplets may combine to produce larger droplets, which may combine to form droplets large enough to fall as rain. By this process of accumulation, the space between droplets becomes increasingly larger, permitting light to penetrate farther into the cloud. If the cloud is sufficiently large and the droplets within are spaced far enough apart, it may be that a percentage of the light which enters the cloud is not reflected back out before it is absorbed. A simple example of this is being able to see farther in heavy rain than in heavy fog. This process of reflection/absorption is what causes the range of cloud color from white to black. For the same reason, the undersides of large clouds and heavy overcasts can appear as various degrees of grey shades, depending on how much light is being reflected or transmitted back to the observer."

Cloud - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

yeah!!! mao ingon ako teacher sa boilogy.... na the skys color is the light that is most reflected to our eyes...

[cromagnon]

nice tungod diay sa refleciton sa mga city lights. kala nyo moon ra marunong mag reflec.

[vanschen]

etzina:

i think mas na explain ni simply on this link ky naay pictures [hehe]:

"Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight."

sodium lamps kanang yellowish color used sa city streets.

[etzina]

thanks sa mga nag reply.. i understand now about why clouds appear dark during the day... but kung during the night why mu appear sya white, tungod lang na sa city lights nato? so if hypothetically we're on an island without any lights at all, kung mag ulan or padung ulan, im assuming we won't be seeing these white clouds during the night?