Why is the sky blue?
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability or knowledge in a specific area overestimate their own competence. Essentially, individuals who are less skilled or knowledgeable in a subject tend to have an inflated sense of their ability, while those who are more expeRead more
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability or knowledge in a specific area overestimate their own competence. Essentially, individuals who are less skilled or knowledgeable in a subject tend to have an inflated sense of their ability, while those who are more experienced or knowledgeable may underestimate their own expertise.
This effect occurs because people with limited knowledge or skills in a domain often lack the awareness to recognize their shortcomings. The Dunning-Kruger Effect was identified in 1999 by psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, who conducted a series of experiments that demonstrated this phenomenon.

Source: LinkedIn
Key aspects of the Dunning-Kruger Effect include:
- Overestimation of abilities: Less skilled individuals believe they are more competent than they actually are.
- Lack of awareness of incompetence: The very lack of knowledge prevents them from recognizing their errors or deficiencies.
- Underestimation of others: Highly skilled individuals may tend to doubt their own competence because they assume tasks are easy for everyone.
In summary, the Dunning-Kruger Effect highlights the paradox that those with the least knowledge in a domain are often the most confident about their skills in it.
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The sky appears blue due to a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering. This occurs when sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, which contains gases and tiny particles. Sunlight, or white light, is made up of different colors, each with a different wavelength. Blue light has a shorter wavelengthRead more
The sky appears blue due to a phenomenon known as Rayleigh scattering. This occurs when sunlight passes through Earth’s atmosphere, which contains gases and tiny particles. Sunlight, or white light, is made up of different colors, each with a different wavelength. Blue light has a shorter wavelength and is scattered more easily than colors with longer wavelengths, like red or yellow.
As sunlight interacts with the molecules in the atmosphere, the shorter wavelengths of blue light are scattered in all directions, making the sky look blue to our eyes. This scattering effect is stronger for blue light because of its shorter wavelength compared to other colors in the visible spectrum.
At sunrise and sunset, when the sun is lower in the sky, its light passes through more of Earth’s atmosphere, scattering even more of the shorter wavelengths and allowing the longer wavelengths, like red and orange, to dominate the sky’s color.
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