5 Australian miners climbed Lunatic Hill—

5名澳洲礦工爬上Lunatic Hill-。

so named for the mental state anyone would be in to dig there.

命名為 "精神狀態"，任何人都會在那裡挖掘。

While their competitors searched for opals at a depth of 2 to 5 meters,

而他們的競爭對手則在2至5米的深度尋找蛋白石。

the Lunatic Hill Syndicate bored 20 meters into the earth.

瘋子山集團在地底下鑽了20米。

And for their audacity, the earth rewarded them

因為他們的膽大妄為，大地對他們進行了獎賞。

with a fist-sized, record breaking opal.

與拳頭大小的，打破紀錄的蛋白石。

They named it the Halley's Comet opal,

他們把它命名為 "哈雷彗星蛋白石"。

after the much larger rocky, icy body flying by the earth at that time.

在當時飛過地球的更大的岩石、冰體之後。

The Halley's Comet opal is a marvel, but its uniqueness is, paradoxically,

哈雷彗星蛋白石是一個奇蹟，但它的獨特性是，矛盾的是。

the most usual thing about it.

最平常的事情。

While diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones

而鑽石、紅寶石、祖母綠和其他貴重寶石

are often indistinguishably similar,

往往是難以分辨的相似。

no two opals look the same,

沒有兩個蛋白石看起來是一樣的。

thanks to a characteristic called "play of color."

得益於一種叫做 "玩色 "的特性。

This shimmering, dazzling, dancing display of light

這閃閃發光的、耀眼的、舞動的光的展示。

comes about from a confluence of chemistry, geology, and optics

融會貫通

that define opals from their earliest moments, deep underground.

這些都是蛋白石從最初的時候起就在地下深處的定義。

It's there that an opal begins its life as something surprisingly abundant: water.

蛋白石的生命就是在那裡開始的，它的生命是一種令人驚訝的豐富的東西：水。

Trickling down through gaps in soil and rock,

從土壤和岩石的縫隙中涓涓流下。

water flows through sandstone, limestone, and basalt,

水流經砂岩、石灰岩和玄武岩。

picking up a microscopic compound called silicon dioxide.

拿起一種叫二氧化硅的微觀化合物。

This silica-enriched water enters the voids inside pieces of volcanic rock,

這種富含二氧化硅的水進入火山岩塊內部的空隙。

prehistoric river beds, wood and even the bones of ancient creatures.

史前的河床、木頭，甚至是遠古生物的骨頭。

Gradually, the water starts to evaporate,

漸漸地，水開始蒸發。

and the silica-solution begins forming a gel,

和硅膠溶液開始形成凝膠。

within which millions of silica spheres form layer by layer

在其中形成了數以百萬計的硅石球體，層層疊疊

as a series of concentric shells.

作為一系列的同心殼。

The gel ultimately hardens into a glass-like material,

凝膠最終硬化成玻璃狀材料。

and the spheres settle into a lattice structure.

並使球體沉澱為晶格結構。

The vast majority of the time, this structure is haphazard,

絕大多數時候，這種結構都是雜亂無章的。

resulting in common, or potch, opals with unremarkable exteriors.

形成了普通的蛋白石，或者說是壺口的蛋白石，外貌並不顯眼。

The tiny, mesmerizing percentage we call precious opals

我們稱之為珍貴蛋白石的微小而令人著迷的百分比。

have regions where silica beads of uniform size form orderly arrays.

有大小均勻的硅珠形成有序陣列的區域。

So why do those structures produce such vibrant displays?

那麼，為什麼這些結構會產生如此鮮豔的顯示效果呢？

The answer lies in a principle of wave physics called interference.

答案就在於波物理學的一個原理，叫干擾。

For the sake of simplicity,

為了簡單起見。

let's look at what happens when a single color of light—

讓我們來看看當一種顏色的光------會發生什麼。

green, with a wavelength of 500 nanometers— hits a precious opal.

綠色，波長為500納米--擊中了一顆珍貴的蛋白石。

The green light will scatter throughout the gemstone

綠色的光會散射到整個寶石上。

and reflect back with varying intensities—

並以不同的強度反射回來------。

from most angles suffused, from some entirely dimmed,

從大多數角度看都是滿滿的，從一些角度看完全是暗淡的。

and others dazzlingly bright.

等耀眼的光芒。

What's happening is, some of the green light reflects off of the top layer.

發生的情況是，一些綠光從頂層反射出來。

Some reflects off of the layer below that.

有的從下面的那層反射出來。

And so on.

等等。

When the additional distance it travels from one layer to the next, and back,

當它從一層走到下一層，再走回來的額外距離。

is a multiple of the wavelength— such as 500 or 1000 extra nanometers—

是波長的倍數--如500或1000多納米--。

the crests and valleys of the waves match each other.

波峰和波谷相互匹配。

This phenomenon is called constructive interference,

這種現象稱為建設性干擾。

and it amplifies the wave, producing a brighter color.

並將波浪放大，產生更明亮的色彩。

So if you position your eye at the correct angle,

所以，如果你把眼睛定位在正確的角度。

the green light reflecting from many layers adds together.

多層反射的綠光加在一起。

Shift the angle just a bit,

角度稍微移動一下。

and you change the distance the light travels between layers.

而你改變了光在層間傳播的距離。

Change it enough, and you'll reach a point where the crests match the valleys,

改得夠多了，你就會達到峰谷相合的地步。

making the waves cancel each other out— that's destructive interference.

使得波浪互相抵消，這就是破壞性干擾。

Different colors have different wavelengths,

不同的顏色有不同的波長。

which translates to varying distances they have to travel

這就意味著他們要走不同的距離。

to constructively interfere.

以進行建設性的干預。

That's why colors roughly correspond to silica bead sizes.

所以顏色與硅珠大小大致對應。

The spaces between 210 nanometer beads are just right to amplify blue light.

210納米珠子之間的空間正好可以放大藍光。

For red light, with its long wavelengths,

對於紅光，其波長較長。

the silica beads must be close to 300 nanometers.

硅珠必須接近300納米。

Those take a very long time to form, and because of that,

這些需要很長的時間才能形成，也正因為如此。

red is the rarest opal color.

紅色是最稀有的蛋白石顏色。

The differences in the arrangements of the gel lattices

凝膠晶格排列的差異性

within a particular stone result in a wide range of color patterns—

在某一特定寶石中，會產生各種顏色的圖案---------------------------。

everything from broad flash to pin-fire to the ultra-rare harlequin.

從寬幅閃光到針射再到超稀有的哈雷奎因，應有盡有。

The circumstances that lead to the formation of precious opal

形成珍貴蛋白石的情況。

are so uncommon that they only occur in a handful of places.

是如此的不常見，以至於它們只出現在少數地方。

About 95% come from Australia,

約95%來自澳洲。

where an ancient inland sea created the perfect conditions.

在這裡，古老的內陸海創造了完美的條件。

It was there that the Halley's Comet opal formed some 100 million years ago.

大約一億年前，哈雷彗星蛋白石就是在那裡形成的。

Which raises the question: in the next 100 million years,

這就提出了一個問題：在未來一億年內。

silica-rich water will percolate through the nooks and crannies

富含二氧化硅的水會從旮旯裡滲透出來。

of some of the discarded artifacts of human civilization.

的一些人類文明的廢棄文物。

What opalescent plays of light will one day radiate

有一天會放射出怎樣的乳白色的光芒

from the things we forget in the darkness?

從我們在黑暗中遺忘的東西？