If orange has a frequency in the visible spectrum that is 620nm, how does light that is 2/3 red at 750nm and 1/3 green at 570nm also make orange?
In: Physics
Because your eyes only have three types of colour sensors – red, green and blue cones. The colours you see are about how much those sensors are each stimulated. And their ranges overlap, so a single frequency can stimulate more than one.
Orange light stimulates both the red and green ones, in a certain mix, and your brain calls that combination of signals “orange”. BUT. If you see light that’s actually a mix of red and green frequencies, and the two stimulate the cones to the same relative amounts as orange light does, you also see orange. Your eye and brain have no way of telling whether you’re seeing one orange wavelength or a mix of two others – just what the overall balance of stimulation is.
Latest Answers