Why is the sky blue?

Have you ever spent time speaking with young children? If you have, then you may have noticed that young children are just about the most curious creatures on the planet! Not only do they seem to want to know everything, but they also seem to enjoy the entire process of coming up with questions and asking them. This inclination is particularly interesting because even though some of their questions can be strange or even rude, they almost always come from a place of genuine curiosity. The world is a colourful and beautiful place. So it is no wonder that people who are new to it are so keen to explore it and discover every little thing there is to know about it.

Curiosity is one of the most beautiful qualities of human beings. In children, this quality of curiosity is not obstructed by hesitancy or the need to be polite, so it is more apparent. However, all human beings are inherently curious, just like young children.

The world is so enormous that there is no way for a single person to possibly know everything about it. In fact, it is impossible to say that even collectively, as a human race, we know everything about the world or the universe. If this were the case, the entire field of science would not exist, and there would be no researchers or scientists left on the planet. So, if there are still so many more things to learn, and so many more questions to ask, why is it that no one seems to be interested in asking them anymore?

For instance, when was the last time you looked at the sky and wondered why it was blue? When was the last time you observed something unique in the world around you and attempted to discover why or how it exists in that way? If the last time you did so was when you were a young child, then it means that you may have unintentionally begun to suppress your curiosity or taught yourself to ignore it.

As young people, we have the responsibility of being curious because curiosity is the key to innovation. When we teach ourselves to examine the world and question things without accepting them at face value, then we are automatically giving ourselves a chance to notice problems and discrepancies that we may have never seen before. This then leads us to creating solutions to these problems and potentially improving the quality of life both for ourselves and for everyone around us.

When we were little kids, we may have been curious about the colour of the sky or the shape of a flower. As we grow up, let us not suppress our curiosity, but instead allow it to grow. Let yourself wonder why germs cause diseases the way they do. Ask yourself why some buildings survive earthquakes while others do not. Ask yourself why the mind works the way it does. You may be surprised at how useful your curiosity may turn out to be!