Understanding Colors
A color is a visual property which, in human beings, corresponds as blue, yellow, red and other basic colors. Colors come from the light spectrum. The light spectrum is a distribution of the wavelength against the light energy and this interacts with the eyes of the human beings spectral sensitivities which is why we see and differentiate colors.
Colors can also be defined numerically as per their coordinates. The categories and the specification of the colors can be associated with light sources, objects, materials and other physical properties like the emission spectra, light absorption and reflection.
The Origin of Colors
The origin and the nature of colors had been first the subject of experiments of Sir Isaac Newton in the year 1666. He had focused on the nature of the colors which are found in rainbows for his experiment and with the help of glass prism he conducted his experiment and came up with the names of the colors which can be seen in a rainbow. The other complimentary colors were only discovered later through other experiments. During his experiments, Sir Isaac Newton concluded that color is a part of light and white is the combination of all the colors of the spectrum.
Understanding the Science Behind Colors
The science which studies colors is known as chromatics and it involves the human brain and eye and its perception of the colors along with its origin in the theory of art color, electromagnetic radiation and materials. The physics in colors studies electromagnetic radiation. The frequency and the intensity of the wavelength is the electromagnetic radiation of colors.
The Relation Between Your Eyes and Colors
Understanding why and how our eyes differentiate colors is an interesting thing. The reason why we can do that is that the cells in the retina of our eyes are sensitive to light of different wavelengths. Our retina has three different color receptor cells or cones. One of these cells responds to the light which corresponds to violet and the other two cells are genetically and chemically related. One of these corresponds to yellowish-green while the other corresponds to green.
The Color Perception Disorders
- Tetrachromacy- human beings are said to have tetrachromacy because they have 3 color receptor cells while animals have four color receptor cells which makes them tetrachromats. Spiders, reptiles and some birds have 3 cones like human beings.
- Color blindness- quite a lot of people suffer from a missing color recepting cone and they are less responsive to light than those who do not suffer from these disorder. These people are said to be color blind and they can only distinguish a few colors.
Colors are a function of light and biology which is why no two people would be able to see colors the same way. Color is actually not an exact science and the goal for us would be to use the science in the way it applies to us.