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| http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/ems3.html |
Imagine a world without the visible light spectrum, all we would be able to see is complete darkness, our eyes would be nearly useless, and nothing would have any color. T'would truly be a terrible world indeed.
Visible light is all around us all the time. In fact, visible light is the only thing we can see.
Visible light is the smallest section of the
Electromagnetic Spectrum, with a frequency range of 4.0x10^14 to 7.5x10^14 Hz, and a wavelength range of 400-750 nm. The color of the light corresponds to it's wavelength, a longer wavelength will have a color higher up in the ROYGBIV spectrum, such as red, while a shorter wavelength will have a color lower on the spectrum such as violet. Since frequency and wavelength are indirectly related, this means that the colors of visible light are also distinguishable by their frequencies.
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| http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2006/01/color-theory-for-digital-displays-a-quick-reference-part-i.php |
Just like paint, light also consists of three primary colors; however, the primary colors of light are a bit different. The primary colors of light are blue, red, and green. When combined, these form 3 more complimentary colors: red and green create yellow, blue and green create cyan, and blue and red create magenta. Finally when all of these colors are combined, they form
white light. This is in direct opposition to mixing the three primary colors of paint, which would make the paint black. Prisms work the opposite way, they take white light and separate it into the seven colors of the ROYGBIV spectrum- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
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| http://theveggieyogi.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_3080.jpg |
Though it may seem hard to believe, light is actually the only thing we can see. Even though many objects seem completely solid and as though they are not emitting light; they are actually constantly reflecting certain components of the white light all around us, this is what gives these objects their color. For example, take this taco salad, the lettuce is able to reflect green light, making the lettuce look green. Similarly, the tomatoes reflect red light. Cheese and corn are able to reflect both red and green light, making it look yellow. The sour cream can reflect all the colors of the ROYGBIV spectrum, due to this, the sour cream is white.
Now hopefully we see how terrible the world would be without the visual light spectrum, color would be nonexistent and taco salads would never look the same again.
