The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-11-04
The Azure Sky-Its Cause.

the sky. 1t has grown familiar to US
by daily observation from childhood,
yet few persons realize the great scien-
tific aud artistic interest attaching to
this beautiful color.
Sir Isaac Newton tried to explain
the color in the year 1875, by referring
IL TO tho blue colors seen in thin soap
bubbles used in his experiments. He
thought the air above our heads was
filled with small particles of water,
which reflect the blue portion of the
suns light falling upon our earth, and
thus produce the blue tints of the
firnament.
Sir John Hersohel explained the
color Of the sky by Newton's theory,
but later writer's have proved that in
some important respects his theory
was wrong.
In 1869 Prof. John Tyndall, the
famous British physicist, found that
he could produce "sky blue" by ex-
periments in the laboratory.
For this purpose he filled o glass
tube about yard long, and three
inches in diameter, with air Of one.
tenth the ordinary density mixed with
niEaite Of butyle vspor, which is ex-
tremely volatile. Then on passing
through the mixture powerful beam
of electric light, in room otherwise
dark, the mixture preoipitated beau
tiful blue cloud, which in color rival
ed the finest italian sky. Further
experiments proved to Tyndall that
ne had at last discovered the secret Of
the blue color Of the sky, which had
puzzled the greatest philosophers Of
sll ages.
Lord Rayleigh, the famous profess
sor Of experimental physics at Cam
bridge, England, and one of King Ed
wards original twelve members of the
new Order of Merit, has investigated
Tyndalrs theory of the color of the
sky by profound mathematical re-
searches extending over many years.
He confirms Tyndall's theory that the
blue arises from the reflection of suns 9
light from small PARTICLES in the air
less than one one -hundreth- -thousandth
Of an ;uoh in diameter. Billions
and trillions Of these atomic PARTICLES
fill the atmosphere, and by rejecting
the blue pert of .he sEn's light give
the dome Of the heavens blush
tint.
Some Of the PARTICLES are water; but
most of them are composed of the
oxygen and nitrogen which we breathe.
Prof. T. j. j. See, of tho United
States navy, is one of the American
scientists who have studied the SUBJ
ject in another aspect. He has OBJ
served the color Of the sky in various
attitudes in high mountains, and in
dry and moist countries, such as
Egypt and Greece, and Arizona, and
the Mississippi Valley. His conolu-
sion is that the beautiful red colors of
sunsets and sunrises so much spoken
Of by Greek and Roman writer's, and
so often illustrated in landscape paint
ing, arise from water vapor in tie
lower layers OF our. atmosphere, alb
sorbing the blue and transmitting the
red light. According to DR.. See, the
reddish colors come from that part Of
our air within five miles Of the earth
surface, while tho deep blue of the
sky arises from reflections of minute
PARTICLES in the higher parts Of our
atmosphere. The water -vapor does
not extend very high, clouds never
rising higher than ten mics above the
earth. The blue streaks cast by
clouds at sunset show that the red
arises near the earth, while the blue
has it's seat very high up. Above our
atmosphere the sky has all the black
ness OF the darkest night.
/. Prof. See has watched the duration
of the blue sky after dark, and found
it to continue for about an hour and
fifteen minutes, and from this he
shows The. our. atmosphere extends to
q height Of fully one hundred and
thirty miles. Astronomers have
usually found the height Of the atmos-
phere by computing the height Of me
teors, but none ever made The height
of the atmosphere over one hundred
miles.
The study of the blue color Of the
sky thus proves also that our atmos-
phere extends considerably higher
than scientists have heretofore sup.
nnsed