full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Victoria Hwang: What is the rarest color in nature?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So, is blue the rarest color in nrtaue? Not quite. atriopbson 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 prectails which can form nanostructures that ieernrfte with visible light. For example, this feather has no blue pigments in it. But when lhigt sreikts 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.

Open Cloze


So, is blue the rarest color in ______? Not quite. __________ 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 _________ which can form nanostructures that _________ with visible light. For example, this feather has no blue pigments in it. But when _____ _______ 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.

Solution


  1. absorption
  2. light
  3. interfere
  4. nature
  5. strikes
  6. particles

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


  1. absorption
  2. amplifies
  3. blue
  4. chain
  5. color
  6. colors
  7. determine
  8. electrons
  9. feather
  10. final
  11. form
  12. frequency
  13. generates
  14. interfere
  15. light
  16. main
  17. method
  18. microscopic
  19. nanostructure
  20. nanostructures
  21. nature
  22. objects
  23. occur
  24. overpowering
  25. particles
  26. pigments
  27. rarest
  28. reaction
  29. scattered
  30. scatters
  31. send
  32. starting
  33. strikes
  34. structural
  35. vibrate
  36. visible
  37. wave
  38. wavelengths
  39. ways