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?

Question

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

Answer 1

Because your mind fabricates colors. 🙂

Not all colors have a wavelength: Pink, Brown, … (These are calles extraspectral colors)

This same principle is important for lightning:
You could create white light by combining Red, Green en Blue LED lights, however, that white light would still only contain the wavelengths of only Red, Green, and Blue, while real white light contains the entire visible spectrum. (See also CRI value of a light, Color Rendering Index.)