Why do city lights look like they are flickering in the distance?
In: Physics
This may be better suited for /r/answers than here, because the answer is simple and straightforward:
The air between you and the lights isn’t perfectly uniform. There are pressure differences and particulates in the air that distort the light. Since air is always moving, the distortion changes… this shows up as a flickering effect from a distance.
That’s the same reason stars flicker, too.
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