Color

[Ashish]

What is responsible for the color of light?

1) Frequency

2) Wavelength

 

or any thing else

[timo]

The square root of their quotient.

[Ashish]

The square root of their quotient.

Please clear it

[timo]

When f is frequency, L is wavelength and c is the speed of light, then at least in vacuum: f = c/L. Since c is constant, if you know L you also know f and vice versa. My joke was that [math]\sqrt{f/L} = \sqrt{c/L^2} = \sqrt{f^2/c} = f/\sqrt{c}[/math], meaning that their quotient determines both just as clearly.

 

Usually, colors are given as a function of the wavelength L, but that is (afaik) purely by convention. In the end, I think real color perception in the human eye-brain system works much more complicated than simply assigning a color to every wavelength but that's an anatomy question.

[Ashish]

really thats what I was thinking that real color perception in the human eye-brain system works much more complicated than simply assigning a color to every wavelength

[5614]

If you're interested in how the eye works then maybe you'll find a page like this:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/rodcone.html

interesting. You can Google some of the key terms you find on that page for more info too.

[Mag]

really thats what I was thinking that real color perception in the human eye-brain system works much more complicated than simply assigning a color to every wavelength

 

Well, I believe its a matter of both.

I think of it that each wave length has a certain color to it - however, depending on the complexity of the eye determines whether or not we can pick up certain colors.

Some animals, for example, cannot see certain colors, or can only see in a few shades - but this does not mean that the color does not exist, it just means that the animal cannot see it.

[YT2095]

a simple way to think about it is to consider Sound, what determines That?

 

and it`s just simply Frequency and Amplitude.

those are the only 2 factors for anywhere up (or down) the EM spectrum.

[iNow]

Certain receptors in the eye (cones) only fire in response to specific wavelengths. When they fire, they send a neural impulse to the visual cortex (occipital lobe). From there, and also deeper in the brain, the aggregate of all of the signals from all of the receptors goes for interpretation. Overall, though, cones only "fire" when light of a certain wavelength reaches them.