How come red & purple are on opposite, far ends of the electromagnetic spectrum, but when mixing colors together in kindergarten, purple is halfway between red & blue?

Question

Shouldn’t common sense dictate that either both be one, or both be the other?

In: 1934

Answer 1

Purple is not one of the colors on the rainbow. It’s not on the electromagnetic spectrum. Purple is a mixture of red light and blue light; it comes from 2 places on the electromagnetic spectrum. Violet looks purple to the human eye and it is one of the rainbow colors. Mixing paint is different from mixing light sources.