Curiosity is an innate quality in children. One thing most children ask is “why is the sky blue?” Here is a
very simple experiment using which you can answer this question.
What you need
1. a clear glass
2. water
3. soap (preferably white)
4. a flashlight that emits white light
Steps
1. Fill the glass with water.
2. Dissolve a little bit of soap in the water to get a cloudy solution.
3. In a dark room, point the flashlight at the cloudy solution.
4. Observe the solution to see a hint of blue color.
Why?
White light from the sun (and in this case the flashlight) is a mixture of all colors of the rainbow. When
light passes through a clear fluid holding small particles in suspension, blue is scattered more than most
other colors. Although violet, another rainbow color, is supposedly scattered more than blue, our eyes
are less sensitive to it than to blue. This is why when we look at the sky on a clear sunny day, we can see
a blue tint.
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