Eli5: How does the colour purple “not exist”?
In: Physics
Our eyes perceive and process colors weird, we have three specific cones that see color, Red Green and Blue. Colors like purple are activating the Red and Blue cones, and average it out, basically making a ‘sum’ of wavelengths. That’s why we have a wide range of colors we can see, rather than only seeing Red Green and Blue.
If we could only process the individual cones, we would have some terrible colored vision, but the brain can process them together and ‘mix’ it.
If you want a somewhat related fun fact; Brown doesn’t really exist either. It’s a combination of opposite colors, but the colors in the spectrum are organized in a way that opposites never touch, but since we have the ability to process colors together to make hues, we can see brown.
Latest Answers