The Visible Universe

Bibhuti Narayan Biswal

Light comprises of little energy packets named photons,
What we see around us is light’s reflection,
Photons possess different wavelengths,
That’s how they produce a range of tones in this visible universe.

Colours are different kinds of waves,
Just like stacked rainbows, 
Including atomic spectrums.
Produced due to dispersion in this universe.

Acids turns Bromocresol green indicator deep yellow,
Bases turns Bromocresol green deep blue,
Pi-electrons makes Phenolphthalein colourless or pink,
Electron confinement makes Methyl orange look different in acids & bases.

Food, clothes, textiles, paints, plastics, and papers attract attention due to their colours,
Colours made natural vegetation, rivers, ocean, and sky beautiful in this universe,
Glows produced in the laboratory in many chemical syntheses,
Scientists study shades in the spectrum analysis,
Researching many colourful articles in the natural science museums,
Exploring the History of science through the study of chromosomes.

The visible universe manifests in many colours,
The green chemiluminescence of fireflies, 
The pink of an alkylating titration,
The dilution of copper sulphate to deep blue,
The hydrogenation of vegetable to yellow,
The carbonization of flora to coal-black,
The fractional distillation of crude oil,
The scattering of light to blue in Ocean and sea 
The scattering of the sun’s radiation to blue sky
The absorption of blue-red light to green chlorophyll,
The nuclear fission in cosmic particle,
The auroral signature of the universe,
The adaptations of Lizards in the deserts,
The electronic transition in metallic glow,
The ignition of crackers,
The molecular decompositions to brown NO2 gas,
The crystallization of green ferrous ammonium sulphates, 
The pigments of flora,
The carotene pigments in yellow leaves,
The cyanidin pigments in purple grapes, blackberries and red cabbages,
The anthocyanin pigments in Red Maples, red oaks, and sumac.

Universe looks dull without planets,
Earth, Mars, and Jupiter are colourful planets,
This physical change occurs due to light’s reflection,
Water, kerosene, and alcohols looks colourless due to different refractive indices,

White brings freshness and brightness,
Red orange yellow symbolizes happiness,
Green Blue purple are cool that represent calmness,
Grey, Brown, and dark blue shares sadness,
Chromatotherapy is to treat mental illness.

The Science

Food, clothes, textiles, paints, plastics, and papers attract our attention due to their colours. In addition, the natural world looks colourful due to physical and chemical processes like luminescence, absorption, dispersion, scattering & reflection of light, internal acid-base reactions, etc. In the laboratory, also colour is produced due to neutralization, alkalisation and acidification of indicators. Flora looks coloured due to presence of pigments like chlorophyll, carotene, cyaniding and anthocyanin. Same indicators appears different due to delocalization of election cloud over the central atom. Colours represents electromagnetic waves like visible spectrum, auroral displays, rainbow, etc. Colour is organically linked with human emotions and it affects our mental health such as changes in our moods, calmness, anger etc. Dopamine dressing and chromatotherapy are boons for good mental health. From birth to death, we are experiencing the colours of the universe. Let us explore the science behind the grandeur of colours that exists in the universe.

The Poet

Dr Bibhuti Narayan Biswal (M.Sc., M.Ed, M.Phil & PhD) is a passionate Science communicator and Educational leader. He has been working as a school thought leader since 2004 and touched the lives of thousands of students & teachers through workshops. He has to his credit two publications in Consilience, 21 research papers, 9 book chapters, more than 28 popular science sessions for teachers and 171 articles. He has presented nearly 60 research papers at various National & International conferences and the papers have been published in conference proceedings. Presently he is working with Reliance Foundation as Academic Lead, Reliance Foundation Schools Academic Council (RFSAC) in Navi Mumbai, India. He can be reached on email via Bibhuti.nb [at] gmail [dot] com.