Things You Thought You Knew – The Color of the Sun

What It Covers

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice debunk common misconceptions about the sun's color, explain acoustic effects in weather phenomena like thunder and snow, and reveal why friction enables all terrestrial transportation and human movement.

Key Questions Answered

• •Sun's True Color: The sun appears white, not yellow. Atmospheric particles scatter blue light when the sun is overhead, creating blue sky. At sunset, light passes through 5-10 equivalent atmospheres, removing blue wavelengths and leaving amber-red colors that mislead observers about the sun's actual color.
• •Lightning Distance Calculation: Sound travels 600 miles per hour, or one mile every six seconds. Count seconds between lightning flash and thunder, then divide by six to determine storm distance in miles. Decreasing intervals mean the storm approaches; constant intervals indicate it moves away from your location.
• •Snow Acoustic Properties: Fresh snow absorbs sound rather than reflecting it, creating unusual silence in cities after snowfall. Below 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit, snow crystals become rigid and crunch underfoot; at warmer temperatures, pressure melts snow slightly, eliminating the crunching sound entirely.
• •Friction Necessity: Without friction, walking, driving, steering, or stopping becomes impossible. Astronauts reentering orbit at 17,000 miles per hour rely on atmospheric friction to convert kinetic energy into heat through ablative shields, eliminating the need to carry fuel for braking during descent to Earth.