When the Sun is near the horizon during the morning or evening, it appears reddish. The phenomenon that is responsible for this observation is

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Q: 34 (CDS-I/2018)
When the Sun is near the horizon during the morning or evening, it appears reddish. The phenomenon that is responsible for this observation is

question_subject: 

Science

question_exam: 

CDS-I

stats: 

0,53,58,6,32,20,53

keywords: 

{'sun': [3, 0, 0, 6], 'refraction': [0, 0, 1, 0], 'reflection': [1, 1, 2, 19], 'evening': [0, 0, 4, 2], 'horizon': [0, 0, 1, 5], 'phenomenon': [3, 4, 7, 15], 'morning': [0, 2, 1, 4], 'dispersion': [0, 0, 1, 16], 'observation': [0, 0, 0, 5], 'light': [16, 4, 34, 62]}

When the Sun is near the horizon during the morning or evening, it appears reddish. This phenomenon can be explained by the scattering of light.

Option 1: Reflection of light is not the correct explanation for why the Sun appears reddish near the horizon. Reflection occurs when light bounces off a surface, but it does not cause the color of the Sun to change in this scenario.

Option 2: Refraction of light is also not the correct explanation. Refraction occurs when light changes direction as it passes from one medium to another, but it does not cause the Sun to appear reddish.

Option 3: Dispersion of light is not the correct explanation either. Dispersion occurs when white light is split into its component colors, like when it passes through a prism. However, this process does not cause the Sun to appear reddish near the horizon.

Option 4: The correct answer is scattering of light. Scattering occurs when particles in the atmosphere, such as dust or air molecules, scatter the shorter wavelengths of light more than the longer wavelengths. This leads to the blue light being scattered away from our line of sight, while the longer wavelength red light is left to reach our eyes. This is why we perceive the Sun as reddish when it is