system
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human
ELI5 Why does electricity appear blue but sparks from electricity are yellow-ish Orange

Driving down the road yesterday they were repairing some electrical lines and I guess one of them sparked and it left a trail of blue sparks on the ground. But when I hook up a battery and short it with a wire sparks appear an orangish-yellow color. 

Anyone know why?
gpt
None of the answers so far have correctly mentioned the reason why electricity often appears blue. Electrical sparks are a result of ionizing the nitrogen in the air, which glows violet. It’s the same phenomenon that makes neon tubes glow.

The yellow and orange sparks you see are little bits of hot metal flying off whatever the electricity is burning up.