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`Visible spectrum - Wikipedia
`The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20180620160148/https://e…
`
`Visible spectrum
`
`The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic
`spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic
`radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or
`simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths
`from about 390 to 700 nanometers.[1] In terms of frequency, this
`corresponds to a band in the vicinity of 430–770 THz.
`
`The spectrum does not contain all the colors that the human eyes
`and brain can distinguish. Unsaturated colors such as pink, or
`purple variations like magenta, for example, are absent because
`they can only be made from a mix of multiple wavelengths. Colors
`containing only one wavelength are also called pure colors or
`spectral colors.
`
`White light is dispersed by a
`prism into the colors of the
`visible spectrum.
`
`Visible wavelengths pass largely unattenuated through the Earth's
`atmosphere via the "optical window" region of the electromagnetic
`spectrum. An example of this phenomenon is when clean air scatters blue light more than red light,
`and so the midday sky appears blue. The optical window is also referred to as the "visible window"
`because it overlaps the human visible response spectrum. The near infrared (NIR) window lies just
`out of the human vision, as well as the Medium Wavelength IR (MWIR) window, and the Long
`Wavelength or Far Infrared (LWIR or FIR) window, although other animals may experience them.
`
`Contents
`History
`Animal color vision
`Spectral colors
`Spectroscopy
`Color display spectrum
`See also
`References
`
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`History
`
`Visible spectrum - Wikipedia
`
`In the 13th century, Roger Bacon theorized that rainbows
`were produced by a similar process to the passage of light
`through glass or crystal.[2]
`
`In the 17th century, Isaac Newton discovered that prisms
`could disassemble and reassemble white light, and
`described the phenomenon in his book Opticks. He was
`the first to use the word spectrum (Latin for "appearance"
`or "apparition") in this sense in print in 1671 in describing
`his experiments in optics. Newton observed that, when a
`narrow beam of sunlight strikes the face of a glass prism
`at an angle, some is reflected and some of the beam
`passes into and through the glass, emerging as different-
`colored bands. Newton hypothesized light to be made up
`of "corpuscles" (particles) of different colors, with the
`different colors of light moving at different speeds in
`transparent matter, red light moving more quickly than
`violet in glass. The result is that red light is bent
`(refracted) less sharply than violet as it passes through
`the prism, creating a spectrum of colors.
`
`Newton's color circle, from Opticks
`of 1704, showing the colors he
`associated with musical notes. The
`spectral colors from red to violet are
`divided by the notes of the musical
`scale, starting at D. The circle
`completes a full octave, from D to D.
`Newton's circle places red, at one
`end of the spectrum, next to violet,
`at the other. This reflects the fact
`that non-spectral purple colors are
`observed when red and violet light
`are mixed.
`
`Newton divided the spectrum into seven named colors:
`red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. He
`chose seven colors out of a belief, derived from the
`ancient Greek sophists, of there
`being a connection between the
`colors,
`the musical notes,
`the
`known objects in the solar system,
`and the days of the week.[3] The
`human eye is relatively insensitive
`to indigo's frequencies, and some
`people who have otherwise-good
`vision cannot distinguish indigo
`from blue and violet. For this
`reason, some later commentators,
`including Isaac Asimov,[4] have suggested that indigo should not be regarded as a color in its own
`right but merely as a shade of blue or violet. However, the evidence indicates that what Newton
`
`Newton's observation of prismatic colors (David Brewster
`1855)
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`meant by "indigo" and "blue" does not correspond to the modern meanings of those color words.
`Comparing Newton's observation of prismatic colors to a color image of the visible light spectrum
`shows that "indigo" corresponds to what is today called blue, whereas "blue" corresponds to
`cyan.[5][6][7]
`
`In the 18th century, Goethe wrote about optical spectra in his Theory of Colours. Goethe used the
`word spectrum (Spektrum) to designate a ghostly optical afterimage, as did Schopenhauer in On
`Vision and Colors. Goethe argued that the continuous spectrum was a compound phenomenon.
`Where Newton narrowed the beam of light to isolate the phenomenon, Goethe observed that a wider
`aperture produces not a spectrum but rather reddish-yellow and blue-cyan edges with white between
`them. The spectrum appears only when these edges are close enough to overlap.
`
`In the early 19th century, the concept of the visible spectrum became more definite, as light outside
`the visible range was discovered and characterized by William Herschel (infrared) and Johann
`Wilhelm Ritter (ultraviolet), Thomas Young, Thomas Johann Seebeck, and others.[8] Young was the
`first to measure the wavelengths of different colors of light, in 1802.[9]
`
`The connection between the visible spectrum and color vision was explored by Thomas Young and
`Hermann von Helmholtz in the early 19th century. Their theory of color vision correctly proposed
`that the eye uses three distinct receptors to perceive color.
`
`Animal color vision
`
`Many species can see light within frequencies outside the human "visible spectrum". Bees and many
`other insects can detect ultraviolet light, which helps them find nectar in flowers. Plant species that
`depend on insect pollination may owe reproductive success to their appearance in ultraviolet light
`rather than how colorful they appear to humans. Birds, too, can see into the ultraviolet (300–
`400 nm), and some have sex-dependent markings on their plumage that are visible only in the
`ultraviolet range.[10][11] Many animals that can see into the ultraviolet range, however, cannot see red
`light or any other reddish wavelengths. Bees' visible spectrum ends at about 590 nm, just before the
`orange wavelengths start.[12] Birds, however, can see some red wavelengths, although not as far into
`the light spectrum as humans.[13] The popular belief that the common goldfish is the only animal that
`can see both infrared and ultraviolet light [14] is incorrect, because goldfish cannot see infrared
`light.[15] Similarly, dogs are often thought to be color blind but they have been shown to be sensitive
`to colors, though not as many as humans.[16]. Some snakes can "see"[17] radiant heat at wavelengths
`between 5 and 30 μm to a degree of accuracy such that a blind rattlesnake can target vulnerable body
`parts of the prey at which it strikes,[18] and other snakes with the organ may detect warm bodies from
`a metre away.[19] It may also be used in thermoregulation and predator detection.[20][21] (See Infrared
`sensing in snakes)
`
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`Spectral colors
`
`Visible spectrum - Wikipedia
`
`Colors that can be produced by
`visible light of a narrow band of
`wavelengths (monochromatic light)
`are called pure spectral colors. The
`various color ranges indicated in the
`illustration are an approximation:
`The spectrum is continuous, with no
`clear boundaries between one color
`and the next.[22]
`
`Spectroscopy
`
`Frequency
`Color Wavelength
`Violet
`380–450 nm 668–789 THz
`Blue
`450–495 nm 606–668 THz
`Green
`495–570 nm 526–606 THz
`Yellow 570–590 nm 508–526 THz
`Orange
`590–620 nm 484–508 THz
`Red
`620–750 nm 400–484 THz
`
`Photon energy
`2.75–3.26 eV
`2.50–2.75 eV
`2.17–2.50 eV
`2.10–2.17 eV
`2.00–2.10 eV
`1.65–2.00 eV
`
`Spectroscopy is the study of objects based
`on the spectrum of color they emit, absorb
`or reflect. Spectroscopy is an important
`in astronomy, where
`investigative
`tool
`scientists use it to analyze the properties of
`distant objects. Typically, astronomical
`spectroscopy
`uses
`high-dispersion
`diffraction gratings to observe spectra at
`very high spectral resolutions. Helium was
`first detected by analysis of the spectrum of
`the sun. Chemical elements can be detected
`in astronomical objects by emission lines
`
`Rough plot of Earth's atmospheric opacity to
`various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation,
`including visible light
`
`and absorption lines.
`
`The shifting of spectral lines can be used to measure the Doppler shift (red shift or blue shift) of
`distant objects.
`
`Color display spectrum
`
`Color displays (e.g. computer monitors
`and televisions) cannot reproduce all
`colors discernible by a human eye.
`Colors outside the color gamut of the
`device, such as most spectral colors, can
`
`Approximation of spectral colors on a display results
`in somewhat distorted chromaticity
`
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`only be approximated. For
`color-accurate
`reproduction, a spectrum
`can be projected onto a
`field. The
`uniform gray
`resulting mixed colors can
`have all their R,G,B coordinates non-negative, and so can be reproduced without distortion. This
`accurately simulates looking at a spectrum on a gray background.[23]
`
`A rendering of the visible spectrum on a gray background
`produces non-spectral mixtures of pure spectrum with gray, which
`fit into the sRGB color space.
`
`See also
`
`High-energy visible light
`Electromagnetic absorption by water#Visible region, why water is blue
`References
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`60148/https://books.google.com/?id=RtSpGV_Pl_0C&pg=PA94). Thomson Brooks/Cole.
`ISBN 0-534-46226-X.
`2. Coffey, Peter (1912). The Science of Logic: An Inquiry Into the Principles of Accurate Thought (h
`ttps://web.archive.org/web/20180620160148/https://books.google.com/?id=j8BCAAAAIAAJ&pg=
`PA185&dq=%22roger+bacon%22+prism). Longmans.
`3. Isacoff, Stuart (16 January 2009). Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the
`Great Minds of Western Civilization (https://web.archive.org/web/20180620160148/https://books.
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`13. ISBN 978-0-307-56051-3. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
`4. Asimov, Isaac (1975). Eyes on the universe : a history of the telescope. Boston: Houghton
`Mifflin. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-395-20716-1.
`5. Evans, Ralph M. (1974). The perception of color (null ed.). New York: Wiley-Interscience.
`ISBN 978-0-471-24785-2.
`6. McLaren, K. (March 2007). "Newton's indigo". Color Research & Application. 10 (4): 225–229.
`doi:10.1002/col.5080100411 (https://web.archive.org/web/20180620160148/https://doi.org/10.10
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`7. Waldman, Gary (2002). Introduction to light : the physics of light, vision, and color (https://web.ar
`chive.org/web/20180620160148/https://books.google.com/?id=PbsoAXWbnr4C&pg=PA193&dq=
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`8. Mary Jo Nye (editor) (2003). The Cambridge History of Science: The Modern Physical and
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`rd.edu/abs/1981Sci...213..789N). doi:10.1126/science.7256281 (https://web.archive.org/web/201
`80620160148/https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.7256281). PMC 2693128 (https://web.archive.
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`19. "Snake infrared detection unravelled" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180620160148/https://web.
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`1.
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