Colour and Design in 2 and 3 Dimensions

What is colour spectrum?

Although light can appear white, it is actually made up of lots of different colours when all added together. The amount of each colour is called the spectrum of the light. We can see all the different colours using a prism like the one in the picture, which uses refraction (the bending of light) to split the light up. This works because different colours are bent by different amounts and so they come out of the prism in slightly different directions.

Astronomers often want to know exactly what colours there are coming from a particular star or galaxy. They use special instruments called spectrographs. Some of the light from stars can be absorbed (taken away) by atoms and molecules that get in the light's way. When this happens, narrow lines can appear in the star's spectrum. The spectrum of our own Sun has hundreds of absorption lines at different colours, all due to atoms in the Sun's atmosphere. 

As humans, our color vision influences everything from our art and poetry to the colors we paint our homes and the clothing we choose to buy. Yet, we rarely question the mechanics of our color perception – or what we may not be able to see.

How do we perceive color?

We perceive color when the different wavelengths composing white light are selectively interfered with by matter (absorbed, reflected, refracted, scattered, or diffracted) on their way to our eyes, or when a non- white distribution of light has been emitted. Visible light is merely a small part of the full electromagnetic spectrum, which extends from cosmic rays at the highest energies down through the middle range (gamma rays, X- rays, the ultraviolet, the visible, the infrared, and radio waves) all the way to induction- heating and electric-power-transmission frequencies at the lowest energies. Note that this is the energy per quantum (photon if in the visible range) but not the total energy; the latter is a function of the intensity in a beam. The visible light that humans perceive is a tiny fraction of the full electromagnetic spectrum.

We can detect the range of light spectrum from about 400 nanometers (violet) to about 700 nanometers (red). We perceive this range of light wavelengths as a smoothly varying rainbow of colors, otherwise known as the visual spectrum.

What I understand about colour spectrum is the colours that unites depending on other ray of light that comes from several different angles. Witnessing a single colour doesn’t guarantee the colour of what we see. Colour(s) form of different colour in a certain place or element.

Reference :

(2014). Microconsciousness: what is colour? [Online] Available at: http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/mind.html [Accessed on 1 August 2015].

(2015). National school’s observatory: spectrum: colours of light. [Online] Available at: www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/astro/stars/spectrum  [Accessed on 1 August 2015].