Blue’s Questioning Celebrities Story
In 1921, after he completed his research report on mechanics and optics at the Royal Society, he sailed back to India via the Mediterranean. In the evening, he stood on the deck and looked at the vast sea water. The cool breeze blew away the hardships of the journey. Other passengers were also walking on the deck, and the conversation between a mother and her son caught his attention, and he couldn't help but listen.
"Mom, what is the name of this sea?" The child looked at the blue water and cheered.
"Mediterranean Sea." Mom replied without thinking.
"Why is it called the Mediterranean Sea?" The child continued to ask after a while.
"Because it is sandwiched between Eurasia and Africa." Mom thought for a while before answering.
"Then why is it blue?" The child asked.
The young mother was at a loss for words after being asked by her child, so she had no choice but to turn her attention to him for help. He gently took the child's hand, smiled and said: "The reason why sea water is blue is because it reflects the color of the sky."
This explanation comes from the author who is famous for the discovery of noble gases. Rayleigh, the legendary British physicist. Rayleigh once explained the color of the sky using the theory that sunlight is scattered by atmospheric molecules, and concluded that the color of sea water is caused by reflecting the color of the sky.
However, after saying goodbye to the mother and son, Raman was always uneasy and felt that his explanation was not sufficient and convincing. The boy's big eyes, full of exploratory spirit, made him feel ashamed of his "curiosity" that died as an adult.
After Raman returned to Calcutta, he immediately began to study why the sea water was blue. He used his own research advantages to start from the interaction between light scattering and water molecules, and used the fluctuation theory of Einstein and others to obtain sufficient data on the scattering phenomenon of light passing through clean water, ice cubes and other materials, proving that water molecules The mechanism by which the scattering of light makes seawater appear blue is exactly the same as the mechanism by which atmospheric molecules scatter sunlight, causing the sky to appear blue. He further researched and discovered a ubiquitous light scattering effect in solids, gases and liquids, which provided strong evidence for the scientific community in the early 20th century to finally accept the particle theory of light.
His name is Raman. He discovered the light scattering effect called the "Raman effect" and made an epoch-making contribution to physics. In 1930, he stepped onto the Nobel podium and became the first scientist in Indian and Asian history to win this honor.
After winning the Grand Prize, media interviews came one after another. Raman always gave a few answers, and the most repeated one was: I just asked a common question: Why is the sea water blue? of? But this question was asked by a little boy. His curiosity shocked and inspired me. The path to science is to always be curious and work hard to prove it with conclusive evidence.