Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe What is an impossible color?
Aug 1, 2024
Delve into the whimsical world of color perception, exploring how our understanding of colors intertwines art and science. Discover the bizarre concept of 'impossible colors' that lie beyond human sight and how creatures like the mantis shrimp perceive a vibrant spectrum we can't imagine. Uncover the biological mechanics behind our vision, including the fascinating roles of rod and cone cells. Join a humorous journey that challenges the very nature of reality and the limitations of our visual experience.
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Parenting Disputes Over Color Names
- Jorge's daughter insists he is colorblind and often corrects his color names.
- They joke about her delight in disagreeing about hues like purple versus red.
Light Is A Continuous One-Dimensional Spectrum
- Light is electromagnetic oscillations with continuous frequencies and photons are energy packets that can have any wavelength.
- The visible spectrum is one slice of an infinite, one-dimensional frequency range, not intrinsically colored until interpreted by biology.
Color Is Constructed From Cone Ratios
- Human color arises from three overlapping cone types that report relative signals, not absolute frequencies.
- The brain interprets cone ratios (roughly RGB) to construct perceived color rather than reading exact wavelengths.