How Light Waves Impact Colors

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Sonali Purohit
11/5/2018--11/8/2018
Waves Blog Entry
How Light Waves Impact Colors


How do we see color? What makes color? Well, the answer is visible light, Visible light is a form of electromagnetic (EM) radiation, as are radio waves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and microwaves. Generally, visible light is defined as the wavelengths that are visible to most human eyes. We see these waves as the colors of rainbow and each color has a different wavelength,  when all of the waves are seen together, it makes white. Our eyes have cones inside them to help us see the waves as color. Our eyes see the reflection of sunlight off of things around us. The color we see is the light reflected back to our eyes.


    Cone-shaped cells in our eyes act as receivers tuned to the wavelengths in this narrow band of the spectrum. Other portions of the spectrum have wavelengths too large or too small and energetic for the biological limitations of our perception. This is why we can’t see all types of electromagnetic waves. The light first passes through a tough protective sheet called the cornea, and then moves into the lens. This adjustable structure bends the light, focusing it down to a point on the retina, at the back of the eye. The retina is covered in millions of light-sensitive receptors known as rods and cones.


   


    Every kind of light moves at a certain wavelength. If each wavelength was laid out on a chart, it would create what is called the electromagnetic spectrum: the range of all light waves visible and invisible . The shorter waves would be on one end and the longer ones would be on the other. In the middle would be where visible light would end up. That is because it moves at just the right wavelength for our eyes to see it. This is the point where we can see it.  The order of shortest wavelength color to longest is as follows; violet, indigo, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, and red. For example, a red shirt looks red because the dye molecules in the fabric have absorbed the wavelengths of light from the violet/blue end of the spectrum. Red light is the only light that is reflected from the shirt. If only blue light is shone onto a red shirt, the shirt would appear black, because the blue would be absorbed and there would be no red light to be reflected. Now when there is no light, it would appear black. Black objects absorb all colours so no light is reflected.Whereas white objects appear white because they reflect all colours.


I think that once we explore the wavelengths and colors and the relation between them and other things, we will discover more variables that go into the color that we see. We may even be able to discover more colors,  if we experiment with different sources of light or different chemicals in the dye. If we can figure out that dogs can see yellows and purples, there have to be ways to see m
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