关于“光” 你不知道的17件事

9.World War II aviators used to spot ships by the bio­luminescence in their wakes.
9.二战中的飞行员曾通过船只尾流中的生物发光现象来定位船只。

10.Incandescent bulbs convert only 10 percent of the energy they draw into light, which is why Europe will outlaw them by 2012. Most of the electricity turns into unwanted heat.
10.白炽灯只能将通过自身的电能的10%转化为光能，而大部分电能都转化成热能浪费掉了。因此欧洲将在2012年禁用白炽灯。

11.In the confined space of an Easy-Bake oven, a 100-watt bulb can create a temperature of 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
11.在一个封闭空间——比如Easy-Bake玩具烤炉里，一个100瓦的白炽灯泡可以达到华氏325度（约163摄氏度）的高温。

12.Visible light makes up less than one ten-billionth of the electromagnetic spectrum, which stretches from radio waves to gamma rays.
12.在覆盖了从无线电波到伽马射线的电磁光谱中，可见光只占不到百亿分之一的比例。

13.Goldfish can see infrared radiation that is invisible to us. Bees, birds, and lizards have eyes that pick up ultraviolet.
13.金鱼可以看见我们看不见的红外线。蜜蜂，鸟类和蜥蜴则有着可以看见紫外线的眼睛。

14.Photography means “writing with light.” English astronomer John Herschel, whose father discovered infrared, coined the term.
14.摄影其实就是“用光来书写”。这个说法是英国宇航员John Herschel（他的父亲发现了红外线）创造的。

15.Shoot now: The “golden hour,” just after sunrise and before sunset, produces the prettiest shadows and colors for photographs.
15.摄影的“黄金时间”是日落后和日出前的短暂时间，此时能拍出光影和色彩都堪称完美的照片。

16.Auroras light up the night sky when solar wind particles excite atoms in the upper atmosphere. Oxygen mostly shines green; nitrogen contributes blue and red.
16.当太阳风激发了高层大气中的原子，就会产生极光。氧气产生的极光多半是绿色的，氮气这是蓝色和红色。

17.But to the Inuits, auroras are spirits of the dead kicking around the head of a walrus.
17.但是对于居住在北极地区的因纽特人来说，极光是死者的灵魂在把海象头当球踢……