full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Victoria Hwang: What is the rarest color in nature?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
So, is blue the raerst cloor in nature? Not quite. Absorption is just one of the two main ways light generates color. In the second method, some wavelengths are scattered and amplified— oeepirvwrnog the others to determine an object's final color. These structural colros occur because some objects around us are made of microscopic particles which can form nanostructures that interfere with visible light. For example, this feather has no blue pigments in it. But when light strikes it, the electrons within its nsrtocuarunte vibrate at the same feecnuqry as the wave. This makes the particles send out a new wave with the same frequency, starting a chain reaction that amipleifs and scatters blue light.
Open Cloze
So, is blue the ______ _____ in nature? Not quite. Absorption is just one of the two main ways light generates color. In the second method, some wavelengths are scattered and amplified— ____________ the others to determine an object's final color. These structural ______ occur because some objects around us are made of microscopic particles which can form nanostructures that interfere with visible light. For example, this feather has no blue pigments in it. But when light strikes it, the electrons within its _____________ vibrate at the same _________ as the wave. This makes the particles send out a new wave with the same frequency, starting a chain reaction that _________ and scatters blue light.
Solution
- colors
- overpowering
- rarest
- nanostructure
- frequency
- amplifies
- color
Original Text
So, is blue the rarest color in nature? Not quite. Absorption is just one of the two main ways light generates color. In the second method, some wavelengths are scattered and amplified— overpowering the others to determine an object's final color. These structural colors occur because some objects around us are made of microscopic particles which can form nanostructures that interfere with visible light. For example, this feather has no blue pigments in it. But when light strikes it, the electrons within its nanostructure vibrate at the same frequency as the wave. This makes the particles send out a new wave with the same frequency, starting a chain reaction that amplifies and scatters blue light.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
collocation |
frequency |
blue light |
3 |
scatter red |
3 |
red light |
3 |
final color |
2 |
light waves |
2 |
energy wavelengths |
2 |
absorb blue |
2 |
visible light |
2 |
ngrams of length 3
collocation |
frequency |
scatter red light |
3 |
Important Words
- absorption
- amplifies
- blue
- chain
- color
- colors
- determine
- electrons
- feather
- final
- form
- frequency
- generates
- interfere
- light
- main
- method
- microscopic
- nanostructure
- nanostructures
- nature
- objects
- occur
- overpowering
- particles
- pigments
- rarest
- reaction
- scattered
- scatters
- send
- starting
- strikes
- structural
- vibrate
- visible
- wave
- wavelengths
- ways