The most colorful gemstones on Earth - Jeff Dekofsky

翻译人员: Zizhuo Liang 校对人员: Helen Chang

On an auspicious day in November of 1986,

1986 年 11 月的一个吉日，

5 Australian miners climbed Lunatic Hill—

五个澳大利亚矿工 爬上“疯人山”—

so named for the mental state anyone would be in to dig there.

一个只有“疯子” 才会去采矿的地方。

While their competitors searched for opals at a depth of 2 to 5 meters,

他们的对手在深约2-5米 处寻找蛋白石，

the Lunatic Hill Syndicate bored 20 meters into the earth.

疯人山矿队在地下钻了20米。

And for their audacity, the earth rewarded them

因为他们的大胆， 地球奖励了他们一块

with a fist-sized, record breaking opal.

拳头大小，超越纪录的蛋白石。

They named it the Halley’s Comet opal,

他们把它命名为 哈雷彗星蛋白石，

after the much larger rocky, icy body flying by the earth at that time.

这名字源于当时 划过地球上空的哈雷彗星。

The Halley’s Comet opal is a marvel, but its uniqueness is, paradoxically,

哈雷彗星蛋白石是一个奇迹， 但矛盾的是，

the most usual thing about it.

它的独特性却是最寻常的。

While diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones

钻石、红宝石、祖母绿和其他宝石 它们通常都十分相似，

are often indistinguishably similar,

它们通常都十分相似，

no two opals look the same,

没有两种蛋白石看起来是一样的，

thanks to a characteristic called "play of color."

多亏了一个叫做“色彩游戏”的特征。

This shimmering, dazzling, dancing display of light

这闪烁、耀眼、舞动的光

comes about from a confluence of chemistry, geology, and optics

来自化学、地质学和光学的融合，

that define opals from their earliest moments, deep underground.

从最早深埋于地下时 就定义了蛋白石。

It’s there that an opal begins its life as something surprisingly abundant: water.

在那里，蛋白石开始了它的生命， 它起源于一种大量存在的物质：水。

Trickling down through gaps in soil and rock,

从土壤和岩石的缝隙中滴下，

water flows through sandstone, limestone, and basalt,

水流过砂岩、石灰岩和玄武岩，

picking up a microscopic compound called silicon dioxide.

并衔起一种叫 二氧化硅的微观化合物。

This silica-enriched water enters the voids inside pieces of volcanic rock,

这种富含二氧化硅的水进入 火山岩内部的空隙，

prehistoric river beds, wood and even the bones of ancient creatures.

史前河床、木材 甚至是古代生物的骨骼。

Gradually, the water starts to evaporate,

渐渐地，水开始蒸发，

and the silica-solution begins forming a gel,

硅溶液开始形成凝胶，

within which millions of silica spheres form layer by layer

数百万个硅球层层形成，

as a series of concentric shells.

与同心壳一样。

The gel ultimately hardens into a glass-like material,

凝胶最终硬化成玻璃状物质，

and the spheres settle into a lattice structure.

球体则形成晶格结构。

The vast majority of the time, this structure is haphazard,

绝大多数时候， 这种结构是随意的，

resulting in common, or potch, opals with unremarkable exteriors.

由此产生出普通的或杂乱， 外观并不显著的蛋白石。

The tiny, mesmerizing percentage we call precious opals

有一小部分形成迷人的蛋白石

have regions where silica beads of uniform size form orderly arrays.

内部是有硅胶珠形成的 均匀大小的有序阵列组成的区域。

So why do those structures produce such vibrant displays?

那么，为什么这些结构会 显得如此充满活力呢？

The answer lies in a principle of wave physics called interference.

答案在于一种叫做 干涉的波动物理学原理。

For the sake of simplicity,

为了简单起见，

let’s look at what happens when a single color of light—

让我们看看当单一颜色的光—

green, with a wavelength of 500 nanometers— hits a precious opal.

绿色，波长为500纳米— 击中一块珍贵的蛋白石会怎么样。

The green light will scatter throughout the gemstone

绿光会散射到整个宝石上

and reflect back with varying intensities—

并以不同的强度反射回来—

from most angles suffused, from some entirely dimmed,

从大多数弥漫的角度， 从一些完全暗淡的角度，

and others dazzlingly bright.

其他的则令人眼花缭乱的明亮。

What’s happening is, some of the green light reflects off of the top layer.

这种现象的原因是， 一些绿光从顶层反射出去。

Some reflects off of the layer below that.

一些则从下面一层反射出去。

And so on.

等等。

When the additional distance it travels from one layer to the next, and back,

当它从一层移动到下一层， 然后再移动回来时，

is a multiple of the wavelength— such as 500 or 1000 extra nanometers—

移动的距离是波长的倍数- 比如500或1000纳米-

the crests and valleys of the waves match each other.

波浪的波峰和波谷相互匹配。

This phenomenon is called constructive interference,

这种现象叫做建设性干扰，

and it amplifies the wave, producing a brighter color.

它会放大波浪， 产生更明亮的颜色。

So if you position your eye at the correct angle,

所以如果你把眼睛 放在正确的角度观察，

the green light reflecting from many layers adds together.

从许多层反射的绿光 则会叠加在一起。

Shift the angle just a bit,

稍微改变一下角度，

你便可以改变光在 每层之间传播的距离。

and you change the distance the light travels between layers.

Change it enough, and you’ll reach a point where the crests match the valleys,

如果改变的足够多， 波峰和波谷便会出现重叠，

making the waves cancel each other out— that’s destructive interference.

使光波相互抵消— 这是破坏性干扰。

Different colors have different wavelengths,

不同的颜色有不同的波长，

which translates to varying distances they have to travel

这就意味着它们必须 经过不同的距离

to constructively interfere.

才能产生建设性的干扰。

That’s why colors roughly correspond to silica bead sizes.

这就是为什么产生的颜色会 大致对应于二氧化硅珠的大小。

The spaces between 210 nanometer beads are just right to amplify blue light.

210纳米珠子之间的间距 正好可以放大蓝光。

For red light, with its long wavelengths,

对于波长较长的红光，

the silica beads must be close to 300 nanometers.

二氧化硅珠必须接近300纳米。

Those take a very long time to form, and because of that,

这需要很长时间才能形成， 也正因为如此，

red is the rarest opal color.

红色是最稀有的 蛋白石颜色。

The differences in the arrangements of the gel lattices

凝胶晶格排列的差异

within a particular stone result in a wide range of color patterns—

在一块特殊的石头里 会产生多种颜色图案—

everything from broad flash to pin-fire to the ultra-rare harlequin.

从最简单的闪光到针尖大小的花火， 再到十分稀有的色彩斑斓。

The circumstances that lead to the formation of precious opal

导致珍贵蛋白石形成的环境

are so uncommon that they only occur in a handful of places.

非常罕见， 它们只发生于极少数地方。

About 95% come from Australia,

这些稀有蛋白石 大约95%来自澳大利亚，

where an ancient inland sea created the perfect conditions.

在那里，古老的内陆海 创造了完美的条件。

It was there that the Halley’s Comet opal formed some 100 million years ago.

大约一亿年前， 哈雷彗星蛋白石就是在那里形成的。

Which raises the question: in the next 100 million years,

这就演发出了一个问题： 在未来一亿年，

silica-rich water will percolate through the nooks and crannies

富含二氧化硅的水 将通过角落和裂缝，

of some of the discarded artifacts of human civilization.

渗透进人类文明中 一些被丢弃的人工制品。

What opalescent plays of light will one day radiate

有朝一日， 这些被遗忘在黑暗中的历史

from the things we forget in the darkness?

会绽放出怎样的光芒呢？