Red light Refraction

[flano]

If red light gets refracted the least in a prism then why are sunsets red???

I've just experimented with 3 lasers red blue and green. the red bent the least and the blue the most. I thought it was opposite. And again why sunsets red?

thank you

[kempie]

You may have thought the opposite but you have proved that red light refracts less than blue, as is the case.

Some explanations of red sunsets...

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/redsun.html

http://www.fv01.dial.pipex.com/sthelp/refraction.htm

[bernardo]

The way I remember it is that the violet light gets bent more violently.  So yes, the blue light bends more, and red light bends least.  Thus sunsets are red because the red light (bending the least) is the only light which has managed to survive the long journey through a long flat layer of atmosphere, and has reached the observer.  The blue and green light has been bent out of the way, and crashes into the ground much further away, before it has a chance to reach the person who is watching the sunset.  That is basically why the rest of the sky is blue - it's the leftovers of all the other places which are having sunsets.

[Hamish]

The red sun set is an effect of the blue light being scattered, not refracted.

Its too complex to go into detail here (i havent the time) but I think the links above will explain it for you.

[Flurfl]

also as the sun gets lower it passes through more atmosphere filled with dust and polution which give it colour as well.