"Why is the Sea Blue" by G. Venkataraman

1. Mahatma Gandhi Arts, Science & Late N. P. Commerce College,
Armori, Dist. Gadchiroli
Class :- B. Sc. – I ( Sem. – II )
Subject :- Compulsory English
Topic :- Why is the Sea Blue?
- G. Venkataraman
- Prepared By -
Asst. Prof. Anil P. Raut

2. About the Author:-
G. Venkataraman began his career in the fifties at the Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre, Mumbai, and later spent over a decade at the Indira Gandhi
Centre for Atomic Research. He was awarded the Sir C. V. Raman Prize in 1979
and was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1991. For his contributions to the
popularisation of science, the Indian National Science Academy conferred on
him the Indira Gandhi Award in 1994. Prominent among Venkataraman’s
publications is Journey into Light: Life and Science of C. V. Raman.

3. About the Essay :-
In this essay, Venkataraman examines the motives and inspiration behind
C.V. Raman’s keen interest in optics. The essay is a perceptive document about
the determined pursuit of science that Raman evinced in his life, irrespective of
other pulls, pressures and social obligations. For him, the problem on hand was
of utmost priority, and perhaps it was this dedication that brought him brilliant
fame in the world of science, despite the fact that he belonged to a country
which was not at the forefront of the scientific world at that time.

4. Summary of the Essay:- “Why is the Sea Blue?”
- G. Venkataraman
 G. Venkataraman is one of the greatest Indian physicists, writer and a former
vice-chancellor of the Satya Sai University. He was awarded the Sir C. V.
Raman Prize in 1979 and was honoured with the Padma Shri in 1991. In 1994
he was given the Indira Gandhi award for his contributions to the
popularisation of science. His prominent publication is Journey into Light:
Life and Science of C. V. Raman.
 In the present essay Why is the Sea Blue? Venkataraman examines the
motives and inspiration behind C. V. Raman’s keen interest in optics. The
essay is a perceptive document about the determined pursuit of science that
Raman evinced in his life, irrespective of other pulls, pressures and social
obligations.

5.  Raman was returning to India after his first visit abroad. He boarded the S. S.
Narkunda at Southampton, England. It was a journey of two weeks and the
route was Spain-Gibraltar-Mediterranean Sea Suez canal-Red Sea-Arabian
Sea to finally at Bombay harbour.
 Raman was not interested in enjoyment and fun. He sat on the deck and kept
looking at the sea and thinking why its colour was blue. He had with him
optical tools like prism, a pocket telescope and even a pocket spectroscope.
He spent hours observing the sea and examining it with the various optical
instruments he had with him.

6.  He mailed his observation when the ship reached Aden and Bombay Port. He
was now convinced that light can be scattered by the molecules of water just
as it can be by the molecules of air and that the blue colour of the sea is due
to such molecular scattering just as the blue of the sky. Raman stated that in
that phenomenon as in the parallel case of the colour of the sky, molecular
diffraction determines the observed luminosity and in great measure also its
colour. Raman thus proved that the sea is blue because the molecules of
water scatter light just the same way molecules of air do.

7.  Earlier attempts were undertaken by Keen and Porter who passed a beam of
white light through a tank containing solution. Then the liquid was made
turbid and as the turbidity increased the intensity of the transmitted light
decreased. At one stage the light was almost cut off. Even the colour of the
transmitted light went through the changes in colour. Lort Rayleigh was able
to explain the initial decrease in intensity of the transmitted light. Raman
explained the strange appearance of colours later.
 Earlier Lord Rayleigh successfully explained the blue colour of the sky but
his observation that the dark blue colour of the sea was the reflection of the
blue sky could not convince Raman. He kept wondering what if the
diffraction is not by a suspended particle but by a molecule? And his
continuous haunting for the convincing reply resulted him with new
discovery.

8. Thank
You