What would happen if there was no dust?
Most of us who have ever cleaned a house would be much happier if
there were less dust.
However, without dust there would be less rainfall and sunsets would
be less beautiful.
Rain is formed when water molecules in the air collect around
particles of dust. When the collected water becomes heavy enough the
water droplet falls to the earth as rain. Thus water vapor could be
much less likely to turn to rain without the dust particles.
The water vapor and dust particles also serve to reflect the rays of
the sun. At sunrise and sunset, when the sun is below the horizon, the
dust and water vapor molecules reflect the longer, red, wavelengths of
light such that we can see them for more time (starting earlier in the
case of sunrise and lasting longer in the case of sunset) than any of
the other wavelengths. The more dust particles in the air the more
colorful the sunrise or sunset.
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