23/09/2013 Color - The Physics Hypertextbook

Color

Discussion
red green blue

Color is a function of the human visual system, and is not an intrinsic property. Objects don't "have" color, they give
off light that "appears" to be a color. Spectral power distributions exist in the physical world, but color exists only in
the mind of the beholder.

Start with monochromatic light — that is, light of a single frequency. The visible spectrum ranges from roughly 700
to 400 nm. If I shine light of a single frequency at your eye and dial the wavelength from 700 nm to 400 nm this is
roughly what you'd see.

How many colors are there in this swatch? How many were you taught in elementary school?

red orange yellow green blue violet

The simple named colors are mostly monosyllabic in English — red, green, blue, brown, black, white, gray. (Yellow
is the one exception to this rule, but it's still pretty simple.) Brevity indicates a pre-English, Anglo-Saxon origin.
Monosyllabic words are generally the oldest words in the English language — head, eye, nose, foot, cat, dog, cow,
eat, drink, man, wife, house, sleep, rain, snow, sword, sheath, God, and the "four letter words" — words that go
back a thousand years. Some of the names for colors are loan words from French — orange and beige, since the
"zh" sound doesn't exist in pure English (garage is a very french word) and violet and purple, since they just sound
too fancy to be anglo-saxon.

That raises an interesting point. Did the English (or the Angles and the Saxons) "see" orange before the French
told them about it? Did the French see orange before the Spanish told them about it? Did the Spanish see orange
before the Arabs told them about it? Why does Islam identify with green? Why do Russians identify with red? Why
do the Dutch groove on orange? (These are rhetorical questions. Please don't email me your answers.) Where do
I put black, white, gray, purple, and brown? What the hell is indigo?

Enough about language, this is a physics book. Here's the point. There is no physical significance in these colors.
It's all a matter of culture and culture depends on where you live, what language you speak, and what century it is.
There is nothing special about these colors. We humans who speak English and live at the dawn of the Twenty
First Century have identified the following six frequency bands (well, wavelength bands actually, since wavelength
is easier to measure than frequency) in the electromagnetic spectrum as being significant enough to warrant
designation with a special name. They are: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.

Where one monochromatic color ends and another begins is a matter of debate as you will see in the table below.

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Wavelength ranges for monochromatic light (nm)

color 1 2 3 4

red 647-700 647-760 630-700 620-800

orange 585-647 585-647 590-630 590-620

yellow 575-585 575-585 570-590 560-590

green 491-575 491-575 500-570 480-560

blue 424-491 424-491 450-500 450-480

violet 400-424 380-424 400-450 400-450

1
CRC Handb ook of Chemistry and Physics. 1966.
2
Hazel Rossotti. Color. Princeton University Press, 1983.
3
Edwin R. Jones. Physics 153 Class Notes. University of South Carolina, 1999.
4
Deane B. Judd. Goethe's Theory of Colors. MIT Press, 1970.

But wait, it gets worse. How many of you reading this learned about "Roy G. Biv" (Americans, I presume) or that
"Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain" (Britons, I presume)? Who among you leaned that between blue and violet
there was this special color called indigo?

Oooo, indigo. Yeah, there's a word I use a lot in everyday conversation. The only time I ever hear it is when students
recite the visible spectrum. Let me state that anyone who says indigo is a color equal in importance to blue or
green is a thoughtless idiot. Indigo is a color of relatively little importance. If indigo counts as a color then so
should canary, and mauve, and puce, and brick, and teal, and … well, you get the idea.

How many colors are there in this swatch? How many were you taught in elementary school?

rubeus aureus flavus viridis cæruleus indicus violaceus

If you believe that indigo is an important color, then here's a set of spectral tables for you.

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Wavelength ranges for monochromatic light (nm) with indigo

color 5 6 7 8

red 630-750 650-750 620-740 624-675

orange 590-630 590-640 585-575 598-624

yellow 570-590 550-580 575-858 557-598

green 490-570 490-530 500-575 515-557

blue 450-490 460-480 445-500 480-515

indigo 420-450 440-450 425-445 460-480

violet 380-420 390-430 390-425 425-460

5
Howard L. Cohen. AST 1002 Study Guide. University of Florida, 1999-2003.
6
J.L. Morton. Color Matters, 1995-2002.
7
A Dictionary of Science. Oxford University Press, 2000.
8
Thomas Young. Theory of Light and Colours, 1802.

Did Richard of York give battle in vain so that future citizens in the dismantled British Empire would forever
remember indigo? Did Mr. and Mrs. Biv conceive little Roy G. so that future generations of Americans might learn
the true nature of light? Where the hell did indigo come from?

Whe n Ne wton atte mpte d to re ckon up the rays of light de compose d by

the prism and ve nture d to assign the famous numbe r seven, he was
appare ntly influe nce d by some lurking disposition towards mysticism, If any
unpre judice d pe rson will fairly re pe at the e xpe rime nt, he must soon be
convince d that the various coloure d space s which paint the spe ctrum slide
into e ach othe r by inde finite shadings: he may name four or five principal
colors, but the subordinate space s are e vide ntly so multiplie d as to be
incapable of e nume ration. The same illustrious mathe matician, we can hardly
doubt, was be traye d by a passion for analogy, whe n he imagine d that the
primary colours are distribute d ove r the spe ctrum afte r the proportion of the
diatonic scale of music, since those inte rme diate space s have re ally no
pre cise de fine d limits.

John Le slie , 1838

The human eye can distinguish something on the order of 7 to 10 million colors — that's a number greater than
the number of words in the English language (the largest language on earth).

The retina …

The rods, which far outnumber the cones, respond to wavelengths in the middle portion of the spectrum of light. If
you had only rods in your retina, you would see in black and white. The cones in our eyes provide us with our color

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vision. There are three types of cone, identified by a capital letter, each of which responds primarily to a region of
the visible spectrum: L to red, M to green, and S to blue.

cone response curves

1.0

7.5
sensitivity

0.5
phy s ic s.info

2.5

0.0
400 500 600 700
wavelength (nm)
Cone response curves [slide]

The peak sensitivities are 580 nm for red (L), 540 nm for green (M), and 440 nm for blue (S). Red and green cones
respond to nearly all visible wavelengths, while blue cones are insensitive to wavelengths longer than 550 nm.
The total response of all three cones together peaks at 560 nm — somewhere between yellow and green in the
spectrum.

Paraphrase …

While re d, gre e n, and blue are space d some what e qually across the
visible spe ctrum, the spe cific se nsitivitie s of the L, M, and S cone s are not.
This might se e m a little confusing, e spe cially since the L cone s are n't e ve n
close ly ce nte re d on the re d are a of the spe ctrum. Fortunate ly, the spe ctral
se nsitivity of the cone s is only one part of how the brain de code s color
information. Additional proce ssing take s the se se nsitivitie s into account

Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage

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y cie chromaticity diagram

0.9
520
0.8
540
0.7 500
560
0.6

0.5 580

0.4
CIE D65 600
620
640
0.3
700
480
0.2

0.1
460
440
400
0.0 x
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
CIE chromaticity diagram [slide]

The relative response of the red and green cones to different colors of light are plotted on the horizontal and vertical
axes, respectively. Values on the tongue shaped perimeter are for light of a single wavelength (in nanometers).
Values within the curve are for light of mixed frequency. The point in the center labeled D65 corresponds to light
from a blackbody radiator at 6500 K — the effective temperature of daylight at midday, a generally accepted
standard value of white light.

white & black

Introductory text

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Temperature (or effective temperature) of selected radiant sources

kelvin
radiant energy source
temperature

2.73 cosmic background radiation

306 human skin

500 household oven at its hottest

660 minimum temperature for incandescence

770 dull red heat

1400 glowing coals, electric stove, electric toaster

1900 candle flame

2000 kerosene lamp

2800 incandescent light bulb, 75 W

2900 incandescent light bulb, 100 W

3000 incandescent light bulb, 200 W

3100 sunrise or sunset (effective)

3200 professional studio lights

3600 one hour after sunrise or one hour before sunset (effective)

4000 two hours after sunrise or two hours before sunset (effective)

5500 direct midday sunlight

6500 daylight (effective)

7000 overcast sky (effective)

20-30,000 lightning bolt

Transition paragraph

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Metal temperature by color Color scale of temperature

approximate temperature Temperature

color color
℉ ℃ K ℃ K

faint red 930 500 770 incipient red heat 500–550 770–820

blood red 1075 580 855 dark red heat 650–750 920–1020

dark cherry 1175 635 910 bright red heat 850–950 1120–1220

medium cherry 1275 0690 0965 yellowish red heat 1050–1150 1320–1420

cherry 1375 0745 1020 incipient white heat 1250–1350 1520–1620

bright cherry 1450 0790 1060 white heat 1450–1550 1720–1820

salmon 1550 0845 1115

dark orange 1630 0890 1160

This table is the re sult of an e ffort to
orange 1725 0940 1215 inte rpre t in te rms of the rmome tric re adings,
the common e xpre ssions use d in de scribing
lemon 1830 1000 1270 te mpe rature s. It is obvious that the se value s
are only approximations.
light yellow 1975 1080 1355
Handbook of Chemistry & Physics, Tenth Edition.
white 2200 1205 1480 Cle ve land, Ohio: The Che mical Rubbe r
Company. (1924).
Source: Process Associates of America

additive color mixing

the absence of light is darkness, add light to it

superposition (lamp overlap)

rapid alternation (biased LED) "persistence of vision"
small elements (TV pixels, halftones)

the basic rules of additive color mixing.

red + green = yellow green + blue = cyan blue + red = magenta

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nothing = black
red + green = yellow
green + blue = cyan
blue + red = magenta
red + green + blue = white

additive color mixing

g re

ow
en

ll
ye
phy s ic s.info

cyan white red black

ma
e

ge
blu

nta

[slide]

the color wheel

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[IMAGE]

Three color
The additive color wheel
LED display

more talk

subtractive color mixing

Subtractive or complimentary colors

white − red = cyan

white − green = magenta
white − blue = yellow

The basic rules of subtractive color mixing

everything = white
cyan + magenta = blue
magenta + yellow = red
yellow + cyan = green
cyan + magenta + yellow = black

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subtractive color mixing

ow
ll
g re

ye
en
phy s ic s.info

cyan black red white

e
blu

ma
ge
nta
[slide]

A four color press: yellow, magenta, cyan, black

the color wheel

The subtractive color wheel

more talk

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historical junk

The painter's color wheel is a historical artifact that refuses to die. The primary colors are not red, yellow, and blue.
Painters and art teachers promote this scheme. It is a convenient way to understand how to mimic one color by
mixing red, yellow, and blue. But these colors do not satisfy the definition of primary colors in that they can't
reproduce the widest variety of colors when combined. Cyan, magenta, and yellow have a greater chromatic range
as evidenced by their ability to produce a reasonable black. No combination of red, yellow, and blue pigments will
approach black as closely as do cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17949-1832), student of the arts, theatrical director, and author (Iphigenia at Taurus,
Egmont, Faust). Lots of interesting descriptive information on the subjective nature of color, which many physicists
of his day ignored, but does not propose a physical model of color.

The the ory of colors, in particular, has suffe re d much, and its progre ss
has be e n incalculably re tarde d by having be e n mixe d up with optics
ge ne rally, a scie nce which cannot dispe nse with mathe matics; whe re as the
the ory of colors, in strictne ss, may be inve stigate d quite inde pe nde ntly of
optics.

Colour is a law of nature in re lation with the se nse of sight … [It] is an

e le me ntary phe nome non in nature adapte d to the se nse of vision …

It is not light, in an abstract se nse , but a luminous image that we have to

conside r.

Ye llow, blue , and re d, may be assume d as pure e le me ntary colors,

alre ady e xisting; from the se , viole t, orange , and gre e n, are the simple st
combine d re sults.

That all the colours mixe d toge the r produce white , is an absurdity which
pe ople have cre dulously be e n accustome d to re pe at for a ce ntury, in
opposition to the e vide nce of the ir se nse s.

Color Mixing Rules from Theory of

Colors [Zur Farb enlehre] (1810) by
The painter's color wheel.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(17949-1832) Germany.

hmmm

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color production

methods

emission
continuous spectra: hot stuff
the sun, fire, incandescent light bulbs
incandescence
discrete spectra: excited electrons
lasers, phosphors, fluorescent tubes, LEDs, neon tubes, sodium & mercury vapor lamps
luminescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence (reemission)
reflection
opaque bodies
paints, inks, dyes, pigments
hemoglobin
chlorophyll a is bright blue-green and is twice as common as the olive colored chlorophyll b;
carotenoids are yellow orange (carrots, squash, tomatoes) two kinds of carotenes have nutritional
significance; anthocyanins provide the red purple blue color of red grapes, red cabbage, apples,
radishes, eggplants; anthoxanthins pale yellow of potatoes, onions, cauliflower;
transmission
transparent bodies
stained glass, photographic filters, tinted sunglasses, red sunsets
scattering
small suspended particles
nitrogen molecules make the sky blue
foam, froth, clouds, smoke
a colloid is basically a suspension of very small particles in another substance: clouds, smoke,
haze
emulsions are suspensions of one liquid in another: mayonnaise, cosmetic creams
milk (fat globules 1-5 μm diameter reduced to <1 μm after homogenization, micelles of milk
protein casein 0.1 μm diameter)
gels are liquids dispersed in a solid: pudding is water dispersed in starch
sols are solids particles dispersed in a liquid: flour and cornstarch thickened sauces
dispersion
variations in transmission speed
rainbows, diamonds, flint glass, chromatic aberration
interference
path length differences
thin films, insect wings & shells, pigeon necks, peacock feathers, mother of pearl, heat stains on
metals, spider webs, halos, bubbles, watered silks, mist on glass, photoelastic stress,
iridescence, opalescence, pearlescence

color spaces

computer monitors
rgb

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bit depth number of colors a.k.a.

8 bit color 2 8 = 256

16 bit color 216 = 65,536 "thousands of colors"

24 bit color 224 = 16,777,216 "millions of colors"

32 bit color 232 = 4,294,967,296 "billions of colors"

hsb
television
YIQ (Y'IQ): NTSC; US, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Japan
Y: luminance, luma, the " brightness", the-and-white portion of the signal
In phase: blue to orange chrominance, chroma
Quadrature (quadrature amplitude modulation): green to purple chrominance, chroma
YDbDr: SECAM; France, former Eastern Bloc countries
Y= R + G + b
Db: différence bleue
Dr: différence rouge
YUV (Y'UV): NTSC, PAL, and SECAM analog composite color video
Y: luma
U: blue–yellow chroma axis
V: red–cyan chroma axis
YPbPr (Y'PbPr, YPbPr): analog component color video, "yipper"
Y: luma
Cb: primary? blue (blue difference P − Y)
Cr: primary? red (red difference R − Y)
YCbCr (YCbCr): digital color video
Y: luma
Cb: chroma blue (blue difference)
Cr: chroma red (red difference)
printing
cmy, cmyk, cmyk+spot
Hexachrome™

The Physics Hypertextbook

© 1998–2013 Glenn Elert

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