We know that the sky appears blue due to Rayleigh scattering. But nevertheless, we are able to see white objects. I suppose it is because white objects reflect blue light so weakly that it is overwhelmed by the reflected white light, and that is why it is not seen.
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2$\begingroup$ Could you rephrase your question? As is, I do not understand what your question is, and I doubt others will understand what you are asking. $\endgroup$– José AndradeCommented Nov 7, 2023 at 22:01
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1$\begingroup$ Are you imagining a scenario where a white object is lit by scattered blue light from the entire sky but not lit by the white light from the sun? One experiment might be to examine the color of an object as it is lowered down into a well, so that the sky provides the only illumination. But color perception is a complicated process that has as much to do with biology as with physics. $\endgroup$– rob ♦Commented Nov 7, 2023 at 22:18
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$\begingroup$ There is no "white" light in some sense. What our eyes observe as white is just a combination of red, green and blue as our photoreceptor cells can receive. $\endgroup$– Gyro GearlooseCommented Nov 7, 2023 at 22:23
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$\begingroup$ @rob Thanks for answering. In my scenario, the white object receives the white light from the sun and also the scattered blue light. My question is why we don't see the white color as bluish. $\endgroup$– Roberto Veramendi EspinozaCommented Nov 7, 2023 at 22:23
2 Answers
Here is a winter scene on a day with bright sun and a blue sky.
Note how the shadowed regions are blue due to the scattered sky light. Meanwhile the sunlit regions are white. The reason they look white is that the reflected sunlight is significantly brighter than the sky light: were you to check the light spectrum it would deviate a bit from sunlight by having some more blue light, but it is not noticeable enough to the eye or camera under these conditions (mostly due to the brightness, but also due to the brain doing a bit of colour compensation).
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1$\begingroup$ This is a great answer … but beware that water and ice have some amount of intrinsic blue color of their own, so some amount of the blue light in the shadow is transmitted through the layers of sunlit snow above. $\endgroup$– rob ♦Commented Nov 8, 2023 at 17:21
You seem to be imagining a scenario where a white object is lit by scattered blue light from the entire sky but not lit by the white light from the sun. One experiment might be to examine the color of an object as it is lowered down into a well, so that the sky provides the only illumination. But color perception is a complicated process that has as much to do with biology as with physics.
In a comment, you clarify:
In my scenario, the white object receives the white light from the sun and also the scattered blue light. My question is why we don't see the white color as bluish.
This is because direct sunlight is approximately a zillion times brighter than the rest of the sky. If you have a magnifying glass (say, at your local drugstore), you can hold a sheet of white paper at the focal distance, and you'll get an inverted image of the sky or trees or buildings or whatever on the paper. Now orient this handmade camera so that your image includes the sun. The sunlight is so much more intense that you may catch the paper on fire.