A colleague sent the following response to a “why” question of mine:
Why is the sky blue? Why does the earth rotate on its specific axis? Why is the beach sand at Broome that particular colour of white?
In other words: “there is no particular reason”.
Being my normal helpful self I responded with the following:
- Why is the sky blue?
Because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light – math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html - Why does the earth rotate on its specific axis?
So that we can have seasons – www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/earth/solsticescience.shtml - Why is the beach sand at Broome that particular colour of white?
So that you’ll never want to leave – www.kimberley-australia.com/Kimberley_Broome.php
P.S. he responded to this with:”I would concede your first point, even though it is a (sic) extraordinarily simple explanation, I would argue the second point to be the end result of the earth’s rotation, not the reason why it is so, the third is completely wrong yet amusingly charming.”