Why does the sun appear yellowish when rising and setting?

The sun appears yellowish when rising and setting because of the Earth's atmosphere. When the sun is low on the horizon, its light has to pass through a greater thickness of the atmosphere, which scatters shorter wavelengths of light (such as blue and green) more than longer wavelengths (such as yellow and red). This scattering effect causes the sun to appear more yellow or orange in color. Additionally, the Earth's atmosphere filters out some of the shorter wavelengths of light, further enhancing the yellowish appearance of the sun during sunrise and sunset.

The sun appears yellowish when rising and setting due to the scattering of sunlight by the Earth's atmosphere.

When the sun is near the horizon, its light has to travel through more of the atmosphere to reach our eyes. This means that more of the blue light is scattered away by the atmosphere, leaving the remaining light to appear more yellow or red.

This phenomenon is known as Rayleigh scattering, which is the scattering of light by particles that are much smaller than the wavelength of light. In the case of the sun, the particles that scatter the light are molecules of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere.

The amount of scattering depends on the wavelength of light, with shorter wavelengths (blue light) being scattered more than longer wavelengths (red light). This is why the sun appears blue when it is high in the sky, and red or yellow when it is near the horizon.

The exact color of the sun when it is rising or setting can vary depending on the weather conditions and the amount of pollution in the atmosphere.