[Physics] Explanation about black color, and hence color

visible-lightvision

I'm bit confused about 'black' as a color. As per my knowledge, it is not given in visible color spectra like other colors for example red, violet etc. Also I'm confused with definition of color–does it mean the reflection of respective wavelengths from an object perceived by human eyes or latest electronic sensors determines the color of that object? This is okay for normal people to know that this this color is this this. But how will you tell that some object has Red color to a blind person, how that person can think of that? I can define a bicycle as a vehicle with two wheels, a handle, a seat–this way, a blind person can imagine that vehicle, but tell me the definition of color so as blind person can imagine about specific color considering he/she is blind since birth. Also one more question regarding black–what is the color of an apple if it is placed in a dark room–to eyes, it seems blindly blackish (oh, what the hell this black is again, and why we feel blind in dark places although eyes are open, huh?), but if we focus a torch on that apple with a daylight like color, it looks with original color, why so?

Best Answer

The human eye has three types of colour receptors, called cones, that respond to red, green and blue light. Your brain interprets the colour based on the signals from these cones.

For example suppose you're looking at red light. Only the "red" cones will generate a signal and your brain interprets this as red. Suppose now you're looking at a mixture of red and green light. This time the red and green cones generate signals while the blue cones do not, and your brain interprets this as yellow. If there is no light entering the eye none of the cones generate a signal and your eye interprets this as black.

Some colours are pure, that is they consist of light with only a single wavelength, but most colours are mixtures of light with lots of different wavelengths. There are lots of ways scientists measure colour e.g. the RGB system, but actually this turns out to be a surprisingly complicated thing to do because many measurement schemes can't measure all possible colours. Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour for more info.

Finally, to take you example of a red apple: the apple is red because it reflects red light but absorbs other colours. If I shine white light from a torch onto the apple only the red light is reflected and enters my eye, so I see the apple as red. Suppose I shine pure blue light (wavelength about 450nm) onto the apple, what will I see. Well the apple will absorb the blue light so no light enters my eye, and the apple looks black.