Why Do Wet Clothes Look Darker?为什么湿衣服看起来颜色更深？

陈传光

当衣服被汗水打湿或被雨水淋湿，抑或把衣服浸泡到水里，我们会发现湿了的衣服颜色明显变深了。你有没有想过为什么呢？阅读下文，去寻找答案吧！

Have you ever 1）spilled water onto your shirt right before animportant event？ Usually， clothes darken in color when they get wet. Itwould certainly be nice if the water didn’t change the color of the clothesso much. But sadly， this isn’t how things work. So why do clothes oftenappear darker when they get wet？

Before answering this question， we should first take a quick look athow we “see” colors. Take a red shirt as an example. When it’s hit by thelight from the sun， it absorbs different 2）wavelengths of light， except thered 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 shouldbe reflected by the shirt is 3）reabsorbed by the water. This means lesslight will be sent to our eyes. As a result， the shirt looks darker.

But remember， sometimes a wet shirt can seem brighter from somespecific angles of observation. The surface of a shirt is usually 4）rough.Adding water to it makes it smoother. A smooth surface reflects light in adifferent way from a rough surface. Thus， you may see a small and brightreflection of the light from a certain angle. So basically， a wet shirt will bedarker than a dry one， but it can also appear more “shiny” at times.

1） spill v. 溢出；洒出

2） wavelength n. 波长

3） reabsorb v. 重新吸收

4） rough adj. 粗糙的；不平滑的

你有没有在重要活动前把水洒到衬衫上的经历？通常，衣服被打湿后颜色会加深。如果水不会改变衣服的颜色，那当然很好。但遗憾的是，事情并非如此。那么，为什么衣服弄濕后往往颜色会显得更深呢？

在回答这个问题之前，我们应该先快速了解一下我们是如何“看到”颜色的。以一件红色衬衫为例。当它被阳光照射时，它会吸收不同波长的光，红色波长的光除外。红光波长反射到我们的眼睛，这就是为什么我们觉得这件衬衫是红色的。

现在让我们回到湿衬衫问题。当光线照射到湿衬衫时，它必须透过衬衫上的水。衬衫反射的光线被水重新吸收，这意味着反射到我们的眼睛的光就会变少。因此，湿衬衫的颜色看起来更深。

但请记住，有时从某些特定的观察角度来看，湿衬衫会显得更亮。衬衫的表面通常是粗糙的，加水会使它更光滑。光滑表面反射光线的方式与粗糙表面不同。因此，你可以从某个角度看到光线小而明亮的反射。所以基本上，湿衬衫会比干衬衫看起来颜色更深，但有时也会显得更“闪亮”。