maxxximpact
Butterlove (Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus)
Been waiting all winter for spring to arrive bringing with it the warm wind that delivers all the beautiful creatures with delicate wings to the UK . the older I get the more excited I get anticipating the arrival of the years first butterfly's ,dragonfly's , buttercups and baby ducks
( especially baby ducks!)
plus I got a new camera over winter so that just added to my excitement, still never mind its here now spring is well and truly sprung . its even more wonderful than I remember .
.........BLUE STUFF...every now and then... nature has a funny five mins and goes and evolves something BLUE ....clear.blows my mind , all i can do is stand and stare and go "WOW thats SO BLUE!!" so imagine my delight when the blue thingy landed on something SO YELLOW and then stayed there long enough for me to take a photo ..tickled pink i was!
why so yellow the buttercup ?
Mark Brown explains below….
We all have fond memories of playing the buttercup game. You simply hold a buttercup flower underneath your chin, and if your neck lights up yellow then it's conclusive, empirical proof that you like butter.
But physicists at the University of Cambridge have discovered the real reason that these flowers give off that golden glow. Disappointingly, it's more about the unique interplay of the petals' epidermal layers, and less about your fondness for margarine.To make that gorgeous yellow hue, the petals of the buttercup flower (Ranunculus repens) have a carotenoid pigment which absorbs light in the blue and green region of the optical spectrum. The result is that the other colours -- in this case, mostly yellow -- are reflected back.
The light passes through to the epidermal layer of the petals.This is a layer of flat cells, from which light is reflected. On the buttercup, though, this layer has not one but two extremely flat surfaces, separated by a gap of air.
Reflection of light by the smooth surface of the cells and by the air layer effectively doubles the gloss of the petal. This causes the buttercup to reflect light under your chin better than any other flower on the school sports field.
In their research, the Cambridge flower-pickers found that the buttercup's petals are also good at reflecting ultraviolet light.
*******************
( still clueless as to the butterflys blueness)
maxxxi
Butterlove (Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus)
Been waiting all winter for spring to arrive bringing with it the warm wind that delivers all the beautiful creatures with delicate wings to the UK . the older I get the more excited I get anticipating the arrival of the years first butterfly's ,dragonfly's , buttercups and baby ducks
( especially baby ducks!)
plus I got a new camera over winter so that just added to my excitement, still never mind its here now spring is well and truly sprung . its even more wonderful than I remember .
.........BLUE STUFF...every now and then... nature has a funny five mins and goes and evolves something BLUE ....clear.blows my mind , all i can do is stand and stare and go "WOW thats SO BLUE!!" so imagine my delight when the blue thingy landed on something SO YELLOW and then stayed there long enough for me to take a photo ..tickled pink i was!
why so yellow the buttercup ?
Mark Brown explains below….
We all have fond memories of playing the buttercup game. You simply hold a buttercup flower underneath your chin, and if your neck lights up yellow then it's conclusive, empirical proof that you like butter.
But physicists at the University of Cambridge have discovered the real reason that these flowers give off that golden glow. Disappointingly, it's more about the unique interplay of the petals' epidermal layers, and less about your fondness for margarine.To make that gorgeous yellow hue, the petals of the buttercup flower (Ranunculus repens) have a carotenoid pigment which absorbs light in the blue and green region of the optical spectrum. The result is that the other colours -- in this case, mostly yellow -- are reflected back.
The light passes through to the epidermal layer of the petals.This is a layer of flat cells, from which light is reflected. On the buttercup, though, this layer has not one but two extremely flat surfaces, separated by a gap of air.
Reflection of light by the smooth surface of the cells and by the air layer effectively doubles the gloss of the petal. This causes the buttercup to reflect light under your chin better than any other flower on the school sports field.
In their research, the Cambridge flower-pickers found that the buttercup's petals are also good at reflecting ultraviolet light.
*******************
( still clueless as to the butterflys blueness)
maxxxi