The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-02-02
MAGIC OF COLORS|
BY 1t We Know of What the Sun
and Stars Are Composed.
SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE.
How They Were Revealed by the Dis
eovery of the Spectrum and the Rea-
sonins to Which II led-Our Eye
lashes Are Primitive Speetroseopes.

soning to Which II led-Our Eye
lashes Are Primitive Speetroseopes.
The miracle of the spectroscope is re
peated before our eyes every day ant
every night without our recognizing II
If people We're more observant and
more accustomed To think about the
meaning of what they see great dis
coverics would be as plentiful as dia-
monds in Kimberley pipe.
A man said TO me the other day.
"What is all this color that see when
| squint my eyes and look at an cleo
| trio light"
| | replied. at is the greatest rev
| elation that man has ever bad i'm the
| physical world-it is spectrum analy-
! sis. Your crowded cyclaSheS become
! an astronomical instrument and ana
I'VE the light for You into its primary
! colorS. The multitude of narrow Sits
through which the light passes ~ you
squirt your eyes act like Il diffraction
grating and change the direction of the
various waves Of light in accordance
with their length.
THE red waves are long, one thir-
ninethousandth of an inch in length,
and they keep on without much change
of direction, but the violet waves are
short. one fifty-seven-t housandth Of
an inch In length. ana they are conSid-
erably turned ont OF a straight line
All the intermediate waves, from or
ange, through yellow. green. blue and
indigo. decrease in length aud are
more and more turned aside as they
get shorter. The consequence is that
YOU see through your nearly closed
eyclashes band Of colors. which is
nothing but the famous spectrum of
the astronomers.
by the discovery of that spectrum
and the reasoning that it led TO we
have found out what the sun and the
stars are made of. Every known ele-
ment OF matter. when it is made To
shine, gives out wave lengths peculiar
TO itself. Spectroscopic instruments
more perfect than the cyelaShes reveal
these special waves In the light of the
sun and the stars and by that reveal
ton enable us TO detect the incandeS- |
cent clouds. composed of the hot va
pors OF iron. copper. nickel. platinum. |
carbon, calcium, sodium and many !
other substances which glow in the |
atmosphere of the heavenly bodies |
We find these things in stars SO far |
away that their liSht may require !
] 600 years to come to us, although it |
flies with a speed of 10000 miles per
second.
Look around You when YOU enter Il
brilliantly lighted paror with crystal |
hanging from the ceiling.
The mysterious spectrum flashes at
YOU from hundred directions at once.
The glass crystals of the chandeliers
are also spectroSc,pca. end they, too.
separate the various coorod waves.
though on Il somewhat different prin-
ripe They act not rs diffraction graf
ingS, but as priSms, but the effect is
nearly the same When light goes
through n prism the red waves are less
bent out of their course than the or
lnge. the orange less than the yellow,
the yellow less ;hau The green. the
green less than the blue. the blue less
han the indiao and the indigo less
han the violet The result is that
what was white light with all its
waves intcrminclcd, when il entered
The prism. comes ont in beautiful
'heaVcs of color.
A similar effect * produced by the
Devcled edge Of Il mirror or the facets
If a piece of cut G,ass glittering on n
Inner table.
The beauty of jewels depends upon
heir spectroScOpiC powers. Every
substance has its own lin
lC', of rcfraction." which means its
peculiar power of turning light waves
lsine. The diamond, as the king of
,ems. possesses this power in the high
'st degree. Calling the retroactive in
lex of air LOO. that of glass is from
.J1 to Ill, according to its density,
while that Of the diamond is 2iT.
This property alone furnishes n
means Of detecting the gcnuinencsS of
diamond. Taking advantage of its
iigh rcfractivc power and shaping its
acets accordingly. the jcwclcr can
'as.y increase the brilliancy % a dia-
nOnd by proper cutting. lie can bring
lboHt internal reflections that make
he stone blaze as if its atoms were all
lfrC
The simmer Of colors in an opal Is
lue TO the existence of invisibly mi
lutc assures. which split up the light
waves and scatter their hues in deli
ate. interminglcd rainbows.
Nature has been doing these things
or thousands of years in plain sight
before man found out that he could
Use the principle on which she acted
o uncover the secrets of the universe.
Very likely she is giving us many 9th
n equally valuable hints which we are
still too stupid TO understaul.-Garrett
p. Serviss in Spokane Spokesman Re
view