The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-01

spectrum, which may be easily reveal
ed by passing a ray of sunlight through
a glass prism. These colors are, In the
order in which they occur in the spec
trun1, violet. indigo, blue, green, yellow,
orange and red. They are seen thus
separated in the rainbow, when the
suns rays are reflected and refracted
in passing through drops of failing
water.
Difference in COlors.
1.-THE chief difference in the character
of these several colors consists In
their different wave lengths. The vio-
let, indigo, and blue rays have very
short wave lengths, and, like small
ripples upon water, they are easily
INSTRUCTED in their motion by any OBJ
ject against which they impinge. The
orange and red rays have longer wave
lengths, are much stronger than the
blue, and like the larger waves upon
water they are not so easily stopped
by opposing obstacles.
1.-THE suns rays penetrating our at
mosphere with it's dust particles,
aqueous vapor, etc, may be likened
unto a load of bird shot of different
sizes fired into a field Of wheat, OF
through the leaves of a dense forest.
The larger shot will penetrate much
farther into the opposing obstacles,
while the smaller ones will soon be
stopped, or will rebound in the dlrec-
ton of the gun.
when the suns rays pass into our
atmosphere the weaker blue rays are
soon stopped or reflected by the various
distractions in the air, such as dust
particles, etc, while the stronger red
rays struggle on through those OBJ
struetions, and falling upon objects
tinge them with their characteristic
coloring.
The Red Sunsets.
This accounts for the red sunrises
and sunsets. When the sun is near
the horizon its rays must traverse a
much greater thickness of atmosphere
than when near the zenith, and only
a few Of the blue-rays struggle through
to our eyes,. while a preponderance
of the strong red rays reach our eyes
and produce the red colors seen at sun
rise and sunset.
But what becomes of the blue rays
that cannot penetrate the denSer layers
of the atmosphere? Many of these
rays, striking against the dust-like
distractions in the atmosphere, are
completely destroyed or stopped, but
by far the greater number are reflect
ed, and most of these reflections are
turned backward in a general way to-
wards the sun. This Will account for
the fact that the bluest part of the
sky is usually opposite to the sun.
Those rays from the sun that shoot
over our heads become separated into
their component colors by this filtering
process, the red rays passing on, and
the blue rays, being reflected back TO
our eyes, producing the blue appear
ance of the sky opposite the sun. The
photographer understands this effect
when he arranges his skylight so as to
open to the north to catch the blue
actinic rays so necessary in the chem
istry of his art.
But many of the blue rays are diff
fused or scattered in all directions,
and this gives the general blue tone to
the sky.
sun Appears Blue.
1T is a well known fact that many
Of the suns rays are polarized at right
angles to their paths in passing through
the atmosphere. as may be shown b5
the polariscope, but how far this cir
cumstance may affect the color OF III,
sky Is uncertain.
1T is a curious fact that the sun It.
self, when seen from the tops Of higl