While watching “Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End” a phenomenon that was described in the movie caught my interest. It was the “green flash” at sunset. It was beautifully done and unusual so I thought I would find out more about it, and then I thought it would be a lot of fun to share with you!
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Green Flash from “Pirates of the Caribbean” |
In the movie the Green Flash had a meaning for the pirates. In a conversation between Hector Barbossa, Joshamee Gibbs, and Pintel to Will Turner, the pirates claim a supernatural cause for the flash.
"Ever gazed upon the green flash, Master Gibbs?"
"I reckon I've seen my fair share. Happens on rare occasion; the last glimpse of sunset, a green flash shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without ever seeing it. Some claim to have seen it who ain't. And some say—"
"It signals when a soul comes back to this world, from the dead!"
"I reckon I've seen my fair share. Happens on rare occasion; the last glimpse of sunset, a green flash shoots up into the sky. Some go their whole lives without ever seeing it. Some claim to have seen it who ain't. And some say—"
"It signals when a soul comes back to this world, from the dead!"
Very spooky indeed!
In my reading however, I haven’t been able to find any proof for the supernatural, but instead have found a lot of evidence for a scientific explanation. If you have ever played with a prism you know that sunlight is actually made of many different colors. Just like in a rainbow one of those colors is green. Now for the tricky part! The image of the sunset that you see on the horizon has already occurred, the sun has set already and you are seeing it from below the horizon! You can see this phenomenon because our atmosphere has different densities, and it becomes denser the closer to the ground because all the weight of the air above it presses down. This density difference causes the different colors of light to behave in different ways than normal.
As you watch a sunset, the colors disappear one by one. Red goes first, orange, yellow, green, blue, and finally violet turns to black. The suns blue color is scattered more than any other color into the atmosphere so we have a blue sky as the red and orange disappear. The amazing part happens now; as the yellow disk of the sun disappears beneath the horizon its color mixes with the blue to form a green after-image of the sun. This green flash only lasts for 1 – 2 seconds so to see it we have to be ready for it.
Would you like to see a Green Flash for yourself? You really do not have to be at the beach to see one, but that is generally the best location for viewing. Also of great importance is to never look at the bright sun directly, wait until it is almost below the horizon. The air must be very clear for viewing, so an evening when a cold front has passed or is passing is ideal. Next, to see below the horizon you have to be above it. So our best chance to see a green flash in this area is from a mountaintop looking westward and down. A little magnification is helpful for viewing also, something like a pair of binoculars, but is not necessary. Also, an idea of what we are actually looking for would be useful as the real Green Flashes are not like the movie ones. They are much smaller and more difficult to see. This is a good example of what a more realistic flash might look like.
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Photo by: Mila Zinkova |
See! Real science can be found everywhere, even in the movies. You never know where you might run across something that may interest you so be sure you keep your Science Notebook handy!
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