Ok, test time. Find the color pink (aka magenta) in the above image of the visible spectrum. Hmmm, can't seem to find it. Well that's because Pink Does Not Exist!... That's right, the color pink is not a color like the others we see. All the other colors represent a specific wavelength of light. Our brain, when it encounters the specific wavelengths, interprets it as the colors we see. Magenta, on the other hand, is a composite color that the brain makes up when it encounters a mix of blue and red. It is kinda like the color wheel below. Take the visible spectrum from above and join the opposite ends of blue and red together. The brain "makes up" the color magenta to interpret what it sees when it encounters a mix of the blue and red ends of the spectrum joined. You only get pink when you have mixed wavelengths. That is why you will never see pink in a rainbow. The rainbow acts as a prism separating out the colors in white light. Since the ends don't meet, you will never see pink in a rainbow. So pink does not exist (kinda)!
3 comments:
Well, maybe not in a rainbow, but I swear I've seen pink in sunsets. I'm glad we're not limited to the rainbow basics; we humans like to mix things up! My favorite colors are blue, green, and red as they appear in nature.
I don't get it. I see pink all of the time. Pigs for example are pink. Perhaps you have never seen a pig? You need to get out more.
Pink cannot be represented by a single wavelength of light. The only way to get it is to mix the wavelengths of others.
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