{"id":86948,"date":"2025-06-01T04:24:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T04:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=86948"},"modified":"2025-06-01T04:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T04:24:09","slug":"which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of"},"content":{"rendered":"

Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of colour of the Sun in the sky?<\/p>\n

[amp_mcq option1=”At sunset (or sunrise), sunlight travels more distance in the atmosphere and higher frequency radiations scatter away resulting into red sunset (or sunrise).” option2=”At sunset (or sunrise), sunlight travels least distance in the atmosphere and higher frequency radiations scatter away resulting into red sunset (or sunrise).” option3=”At noon, sunlight travels least distance in the atmosphere and relatively less amount of sunlight is scattered and therefore the Sun appears reddish.” option4=”At noon, sunlight travels least distance in the atmosphere and larger amount of sunlight is scattered and therefore the Sun appears reddish.” correct=”option1″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n
UPSC Geoscientist – 2022<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Download PDF<\/a>Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nAt sunset or sunrise, sunlight travels a longer path through the Earth’s atmosphere. This longer path means more scattering of sunlight occurs. According to Rayleigh scattering, shorter wavelengths (blue and violet light) are scattered much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange light). As the blue and violet light is scattered away from the line of sight, the light that reaches the observer’s eyes is richer in longer wavelengths, making the Sun appear reddish.
\n<\/section>\n
\nThe color of the sky and the Sun’s appearance depend on how sunlight is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering dictates that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength (scattering \u221d 1\/\u03bb\u2074). This means shorter wavelengths scatter significantly more than longer ones. The path length of sunlight through the atmosphere is the key factor explaining the difference between the Sun’s appearance at noon (shortest path, less scattering) and at sunrise\/sunset (longest path, more scattering of short wavelengths).
\n<\/section>\n
\nAt noon, when the Sun is high in the sky, the path through the atmosphere is shortest. Less scattering occurs, and although blue light is still scattered away (making the sky blue), enough of the other wavelengths remain in the direct beam that the Sun appears white or slightly yellow.
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of colour of the Sun in the sky? [amp_mcq option1=”At sunset (or sunrise), sunlight travels more distance in the atmosphere and higher frequency radiations scatter away resulting into red sunset (or sunrise).” option2=”At sunset (or sunrise), sunlight travels least distance in the atmosphere and … <\/p>\n

Detailed SolutionWhich one of the following statements is true about the appearance of<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1091],"tags":[1108,1153,1128],"class_list":["post-86948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-geoscientist","tag-1108","tag-optics","tag-physics","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nWhich one of the following statements is true about the appearance of<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At sunset or sunrise, sunlight travels a longer path through the Earth's atmosphere. This longer path means more scattering of sunlight occurs. According to Rayleigh scattering, shorter wavelengths (blue and violet light) are scattered much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange light). As the blue and violet light is scattered away from the line of sight, the light that reaches the observer's eyes is richer in longer wavelengths, making the Sun appear reddish. The color of the sky and the Sun's appearance depend on how sunlight is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering dictates that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength (scattering \u221d 1\/\u03bb\u2074). This means shorter wavelengths scatter significantly more than longer ones. The path length of sunlight through the atmosphere is the key factor explaining the difference between the Sun's appearance at noon (shortest path, less scattering) and at sunrise\/sunset (longest path, more scattering of short wavelengths).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At sunset or sunrise, sunlight travels a longer path through the Earth's atmosphere. This longer path means more scattering of sunlight occurs. According to Rayleigh scattering, shorter wavelengths (blue and violet light) are scattered much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange light). As the blue and violet light is scattered away from the line of sight, the light that reaches the observer's eyes is richer in longer wavelengths, making the Sun appear reddish. The color of the sky and the Sun's appearance depend on how sunlight is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering dictates that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength (scattering \u221d 1\/\u03bb\u2074). This means shorter wavelengths scatter significantly more than longer ones. The path length of sunlight through the atmosphere is the key factor explaining the difference between the Sun's appearance at noon (shortest path, less scattering) and at sunrise\/sunset (longest path, more scattering of short wavelengths).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T04:24:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of","description":"At sunset or sunrise, sunlight travels a longer path through the Earth's atmosphere. This longer path means more scattering of sunlight occurs. According to Rayleigh scattering, shorter wavelengths (blue and violet light) are scattered much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange light). As the blue and violet light is scattered away from the line of sight, the light that reaches the observer's eyes is richer in longer wavelengths, making the Sun appear reddish. The color of the sky and the Sun's appearance depend on how sunlight is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering dictates that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength (scattering \u221d 1\/\u03bb\u2074). This means shorter wavelengths scatter significantly more than longer ones. The path length of sunlight through the atmosphere is the key factor explaining the difference between the Sun's appearance at noon (shortest path, less scattering) and at sunrise\/sunset (longest path, more scattering of short wavelengths).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of","og_description":"At sunset or sunrise, sunlight travels a longer path through the Earth's atmosphere. This longer path means more scattering of sunlight occurs. According to Rayleigh scattering, shorter wavelengths (blue and violet light) are scattered much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange light). As the blue and violet light is scattered away from the line of sight, the light that reaches the observer's eyes is richer in longer wavelengths, making the Sun appear reddish. The color of the sky and the Sun's appearance depend on how sunlight is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering dictates that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength (scattering \u221d 1\/\u03bb\u2074). This means shorter wavelengths scatter significantly more than longer ones. The path length of sunlight through the atmosphere is the key factor explaining the difference between the Sun's appearance at noon (shortest path, less scattering) and at sunrise\/sunset (longest path, more scattering of short wavelengths).","og_url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/","og_site_name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T04:24:09+00:00","author":"rawan239","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rawan239","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/","name":"Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T04:24:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T04:24:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209"},"description":"At sunset or sunrise, sunlight travels a longer path through the Earth's atmosphere. This longer path means more scattering of sunlight occurs. According to Rayleigh scattering, shorter wavelengths (blue and violet light) are scattered much more effectively than longer wavelengths (red and orange light). As the blue and violet light is scattered away from the line of sight, the light that reaches the observer's eyes is richer in longer wavelengths, making the Sun appear reddish. The color of the sky and the Sun's appearance depend on how sunlight is scattered by molecules in the atmosphere. Rayleigh scattering dictates that scattering is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength (scattering \u221d 1\/\u03bb\u2074). This means shorter wavelengths scatter significantly more than longer ones. The path length of sunlight through the atmosphere is the key factor explaining the difference between the Sun's appearance at noon (shortest path, less scattering) and at sunrise\/sunset (longest path, more scattering of short wavelengths).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/which-one-of-the-following-statements-is-true-about-the-appearance-of\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UPSC Geoscientist","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/category\/upsc-geoscientist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Which one of the following statements is true about the appearance of"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/","name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209","name":"rawan239","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rawan239"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com"],"url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/author\/rawan239\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}