The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-03-05

The sky Is blue, SO arc water and
Ice in large quantities, but take q
small piece of ice, few drops of wa.
ter, q room full of air, and the color
has disappeared. What has become
of it? -.-.-............t. 10000.
Shall / tell you the secret? Well,
the rays that come from the sun are
of three kinds, the heat rays, the
chemical rays and the light or color
rays. These last are seven i'm num-
Der, Corresponding to the seven colors
of the rainbow.
Now when the sun shines on wa
ter, first the heat rays are absorbed,
and the water is warmed by them.
Then of the light rays, the most
quickly undulating red rays are taken
in first, then the yellow, then the
green, then the blue and violet.
The blue and violet are the last to be
absorbed. This is why caves on the
surface of the sea, which are lighted
only by rays which have come
through the water, always appear of
a beautiful blue color, like the Sap
phire GrOttO, at Capri, in Italy.
If the water Is deep enough, as In
the ocean, the blue and violet rays
also should be absorbed; and If that
were so, the sea wOuldappear as black
as ink. But it never does appear
quiteso black as this. Why?
Tyndall has shown that the color
of both airand water is largely caused
by the light reflected by floating sub
stances, too small to be usually no
ticed. When he was on his way to
Algiers to observe an eclipse of the
sun, he collected water in bottles from
different parts of the Atlantic ocean,
from light green to dark blue.
When he returned home ne exam
ined these specimens by passing a
ray Of light through them in a dark
room, and he found there was most
dust in the water he had marked
bright green-it showed, of course, no
color i'm the bOttle--and that which
he had marked indigo-blue was the
purest.
From similar experiments it is
found that warmth promotes the alb
sOrptiOn of the other color-rays, SO
that the 6tue tint of the ocean, which
is the last to be taken in, is deeper
near the equator and in the tropics
than elsewhere. Yet even here .Tyn-
dali found that If he sunk u white
china plate little way in the sea, il
made the water above it appear
green.
The same is the case with ice. IL
appears green or blue, according as
the light Is able to penetrate 1t.
The water of lakes is sometimes
thn,rnht IN nhfat., ifc hI.tn frnr,
the reflection of the sky, but this is
very seldom the case. In somco of the
lakes of Switzerland and in the
geysers of Iceland the water is tinted
blue by iodine and other chemical
substances.
On the other hand, the azure of thu
sky is probably due to Water. A.
even Newton thought, it is the re
Election of light from minute drops o.
bubbles of water contained in thu
atmosphere which produces this tint
Tyndall ascribes the dark blue of ;
starry night to the SUMS rays, which
are still reflected in some measure
, from the particles in the air. If /
: were not for these, the space arOunt
our earth would always apper je
, black, as the sky above him wOult
look to an inhabitant of the moon
,, which has no atmosphere.
If flight, instead of being reflected
is seen through the dust or vapor o
the air, it appears red instead of blue
: Hence the sun assumes its golden o.
reddish hue when rising or setting
because its rays then pass through
the thicker vapOrs which are neare
the earth. His solar majesty ais,
: looks red in the face when looked a
through a fog or through steam. l
is thus the impurity of the air neal
the earth causes the beautiful COLDER
light of evening.
We cannot but be struck will
wonder and admiration when we re
fleet with what a variety of delightful
: and harmonious cOlors this earth i
decked. Nor can we fail to perceiv,
: In the secret of color a token of tn,
: benevOlcnce of the Creator, who ha
so arranged this world as thus to Civ,
constant pleasure and instruction t,
His observing creatures. = YOUTH
Companion.