時差N小時:為什么天空不是統(tǒng)一的藍色 Why The Sky Is Not Blue

Look at various parts of the sky on a clear day andyou will see that it is not a uniform blue.

抬頭仰望天空，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)在晴朗的日子里，天空并不會呈現(xiàn)出統(tǒng)一的藍色。

Even if the sky is deep blue when you look straightup, near the horizon it is lighter.

即使你頭頂上正對的這片天是深藍色的，靠近地平線處的也會相對較淺一些。

This is partly due to pollution, but even in thecleanest air the sky is lighter near the horizon due tothe effect of earth's atmosphere on sunlight.

部分原因要歸咎于污染，但是就算是在最干凈的空氣中，貼近地平線處的天空顏色也會比較淺，這是由于地球大氣層對陽光的影響。

When the rays of sunlight enter the atmosphere,the atmosphere tends to deflect the light fromits straight-line path from the sun to the earth, and spread it around the sky, a process that iscalled scattering.

當太陽光線進入到大氣層時，大氣層會使陽光直行進入的路線產(chǎn)生偏離，并使光線散布于天空中，這個過程就叫做散射。

If all the colors were spread equally the sky would look white, since all of the colors of lightcombined make white light.

如果所有顏色的光線都均勻分散開來，那么天空看上去就會是白色的，因為所有顏色的光線組合起來就是白光。

But the atmosphere does not spread all colors equally in all parts of the sky, and that is whythe sky is not a uniform color.

但是大氣層不會把所有顏色的光線均勻分布在整個天空中，這就是為什么天空看上去不是統(tǒng)一的顏色的原因。

The color that is most readily spread is blue.

最容易發(fā)生散射的是藍色的光。

So when we look up on a clear day we see blue sky,since the sunlight has had to pass throughthe least atmosphere, and fewer of the other colors of light have been spread.

由于陽光能夠穿透最薄的大氣層，并且只有少量顏色的光會發(fā)生散射，因此在晴朗的天氣里，我們看到天空呈現(xiàn)出的就是藍色。

However, closer to the horizon the sunlight must pass through more of the atmosphere before itreaches our eyes.

然而，在越靠近地平線的地方，陽光在進入我們的視野之前必須要穿過的大氣層也就越厚。

This gives the rays of other colors of light a chance to be spread so that the light reaching oureyes is more a mixture of all the colors and therefore appears lighter.

這就為其他顏色的光發(fā)生散射提供了機會。這樣一來，進入我們視線的陽光就更像是所有顏色的光的混合體，因此會看上去會比較淺一些。