Why Do Wet Clothes Look Darker?

陳傳光

當衣服被汗水打濕或被雨水淋濕，抑或把衣服浸泡到水里，我們會發現濕了的衣服顏色明顯變深了。你有沒有想過為什么呢？閱讀下文，去尋找答案吧！

Have you ever1)spilledwater onto your shirt right before an important event? Usually,clothes darken in color when they get wet.It would certainly be nice if the water didn’t change the color of the clothes so much.But sadly,this isn’t how things work.So why do clothes often appear darker when they get wet?

Before answering this question,we should first take a quick look at how we “see” colors.Take a red shirt as an example.When it’s hit by the light from the sun,it absorbs different2)wavelengthsof light,except the red light wavelength.The red light wavelength is reflected to our eyes.That is why the shirt appears red to us.

Now let’s return to the wet shirt question.When the light hits a wet shirt,it has to pass through the water on the shirt.The light that should be reflected by the shirt is3)reabsorbedby the water.This means less light will be sent to our eyes.As a result,the shirt looks darker.

But remember,sometimes a wet shirt can seem brighter from some specific angles of observation.The surface of a shirt is usually4)rough.Adding water to it makes it smoother.A smooth surface reflects light in a different way from a rough surface.Thus,you may see a small and bright reflection of the light from a certain angle.So basically,a wet shirt will be darker than a dry one,but it can also appear more “shiny” at times.

1) spillv.溢出；灑出

2) wavelengthn.波長

3) reabsorbv.重新吸收

4) roughadj.粗糙的；不平滑的

你有沒有在重要活動前把水灑到襯衫上的經歷？通常，衣服被打濕后顏色會加深。如果水不會改變衣服的顏色，那當然很好。但遺憾的是，事情并非如此。那么，為什么衣服弄濕后往往顏色會顯得更深呢？

在回答這個問題之前，我們應該先快速了解一下我們是如何“看到”顏色的。以一件紅色襯衫為例。當它被陽光照射時，它會吸收不同波長的光，紅色波長的光除外。紅光波長反射到我們的眼睛，這就是為什么我們覺得這件襯衫是紅色的。

現在讓我們回到濕襯衫問題。當光線照射到濕襯衫時，它必須透過襯衫上的水。襯衫反射的光線被水重新吸收，這意味著反射到我們的眼睛的光就會變少。因此，濕襯衫的顏色看起來更深。

但請記住，有時從某些特定的觀察角度來看，濕襯衫會顯得更亮。襯衫的表面通常是粗糙的，加水會使它更光滑。光滑表面反射光線的方式與粗糙表面不同。因此，你可以從某個角度看到光線小而明亮的反射。所以基本上，濕襯衫會比干襯衫看起來顏色更深，但有時也會顯得更“閃亮”。