eli5: why do we use red green blue instead of the primary colours for light

Question

i kinda understand the difference between subtractive and addictive colours but i don’t understand why we use green instead of yellow for lights

In: Other

Answer 1

Navigation lighting is a part of this. Green + Red = Amber, so if you see a ship or aircraft at a distance and the light looks amber, it’s headed straight for you. Incidentally, this is how battery status and other LED lights can work by cycling the G/R signal very fast so they blur together as amber – you can move the LED quickly and persistence of vision will show the alternating colors (my students loved that).