106
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 62 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Relevant XKCD quote I think of frequently:

Normal light interacts with the atmosphere through Rayleigh scattering. You may have heard of Rayleigh scattering as the answer to "why is the sky blue." This is sort of true, but honestly, a better answer to this question might be "because air is blue." Sure, it appears blue for a bunch of physics reasons, but everything appears the color it is for a bunch of physics reasons.

When you ask, "Why is the statue of liberty green?" the answer is something like, "The outside of the statue is copper, so it used to be copper-colored. Over time, a layer of copper carbonate formed (through oxidation), and copper carbonate is green." You don't say "The statue is green because of frequency-specific absorption and scattering by surface molecules."

So yes, they are blue. They're just blue for a slightly less common reason than other blue things.

[-] Abracadaniel@hexbear.net 26 points 9 months ago

this is the enlightened take.

this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
106 points (100.0% liked)

chapotraphouse

13497 readers
881 users here now

Banned? DM Wmill to appeal.

No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer

Vaush posts go in the_dunk_tank

Dunk posts in general go in the_dunk_tank, not here

Don't post low-hanging fruit here after it gets removed from the_dunk_tank

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS