Astronomy cast 1&2

Ep. 253: Rayleigh Scattering (Why is the Sky Blue?)
This astronomy cast was about why the sky is blue. The sky is blue due to an effect called Rayleigh Scattering. This effect is caused by gases and dust particles in the atmosphere that scatter a large amount of electromagnetic radiation. Red, yellow, and green get through pretty well, but blue becomes scattered and photons are directed all over the sky. All of the light photons of blue wavelength or shorter are scattered and leave the blue haze that is visible to everyone. It is techinically an absorbtion reabsorption process where the photons act like a ball and the particles like walls. The ball continues to bounce and there are so many balls that they create a visible screen of light. This visible screen happens to be the color blue because of the size of the particles of our atmosphere. The size of the particles has to be just the right size in order for this effect to be utilized. The probability of the light being blue was not any higher than any other color, however the way the planet has evolved has created a system where this is now the norm and will remain this way.
Ep 254: Reflection and Refraction
The way that vision essentially works is that photons are emitted from the sun and are sent towards every object on earth. The photons hit each and every object and they bounce and reflect. They reflect at different wavelengths depending on the material and different characteristics of objects. Green is just a type of material that can reflect light at a green wavelength. Green is really just an interpretation of the brain of wavelengths of light. Objects do not truly have color, its just the mind interpreting the information it recieves from cones and rods in the eyes that absorb photons passing into them. Different materials, dust, interstellar space, and many different factors cause light to be adjusted in terms of speed or constitution. These changes result in all different types of images being detected by your eyes and therefore your brain.