WHY IS THE SKY BLUE, POPPA?

SCORE ONE FOR GRANDSON—On a recent visit grandson #2 asked question #2719 during his two-day stay.  Funny, could have sworn his dad asked the same question in 1977. Back then I probably answered: “Because it is! Well, it isn’t.  To find out why the sky is blue I rushed to NASA.gov website for a fascinating answer.

Go to link: http://scijinks.nasa.gov/blue-sky

Quick answer: NASA says the sky is blue because light coming from the sun is always white, but when it hits the atmosphere of earth it is reflected, bent or scattered much like light passing through a prism.  Blue isn’t scattered or changed as easily because it has a low wavelength.  Blue light waves get absorbed by the gas molecules in the atmosphere then spit out in all directions.  Human eyes see the blue easier until sunset when the angle of the setting sun allows red wavelength of light to pass through the atmosphere more easily.  

Image: http://www.flickr.com/groups/979018@N23/

MEDIA MONDAY / 50 WORDS WE ALL MISSPELL

GUEST BLOG—By Laura Hale Brockway, PR Daily blog writer—As writers, editors and readers, we are all above-average spellers.  We’re the pros others call for spelling advice; we’re the ones who kick butt at Words with Friends; we’re the ones who remember the spelling rules we learned in elementary school.

And yet, sometimes even we get stumped and make spelling mistakes.

I’m guilty of misspelling words.  Recently, I had to double-check the spelling of “inoculate.”  I could have sworn there were two N’s in that word.

As “they” say, admitting you have a problem is the first step.  So, yes, there are words that we can and sometimes do misspell.  Here are 50 tricky ones:

Absence, accommodate, barbarous, bellwether, camaraderie, cantaloupe, cellophane, coolly, daiquiri, Dalmatian, decaffeinated, deterrence, doughnut, dumbbell, embarrass, fiery, fluorescent, handkerchief, harass, heinous, hindrance, idiosyncrasy, inoculate, jewelry, lightning (as in an electrical storm; lightening one’s hair is another matter).

Liquefy, loneliness, maneuver, memento, minuscule, mischievous, noticeable, nuisance, occasionally, occurrence, pastime, perseverance, possession, publicly, recede, reminiscence, resemblance, sacrilegious, strenuous, supersede, susceptible, temperamental, unanimous, vengeance and withdrawal.

Author: Ms. Brockway is an Austin, Texas-based medical writer and editor.  She is also the author of the writing and editing blog, Impertinent Remarks.