Color, How We See Light
Saturday, June 7th, 2008this was originally published on my webpage in 2005, enjoy =)
Introduction
Light is a form of radiant electromagnetic energy which, for our purposes, travels as a wave. While this is not exactly correct it is all we need to concern ourselves with to understand color.
The color we see is dependent on the wave length of the light that reaches our eyes.
Visible light is a range of electromagnetic wave lengths that the human eye is sensitive to. The range is about 400 to 700 nm (nanometers). Below 400nm we find ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and Gamma-rays. Above 700nm we encounter infrared radiation, radar, television, and radio.
White light is a combination of all visible wave lengths. Black is an absence of light.
