Eli5: Why does red + blue = purple

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Red + yellow = orange. Orange sits between red and yellow in the rainbow. It makes sense mixing them provides an “average”

Yellow + blue = green. Green sits between yellow and blue in the rainbow. Same as above.

Purple does not sit between red and blue in the rainbow. Why do they combine to make purple?

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6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

You might have seen an image [like this](https://tutorials-cdn.pixelmator.com/gradient-tool/top.jpg) before. If you notice, its bordered by two ends of Red, one turning into purple and the other turning into orange.

The reality is that the color spectrum is more like a continuous gradient. It’s not like the traditional cartoon “Reading Rainbow” type rainbow where it hard starts with Red and hard ends with Violet. In reality, the violet eventually gradients into red, and repeats etc.

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