Physics of Color Vision and Color Blindness Essay

Most people do not see color as simply the way something looks, however. They tend to associate certain colors with specific feelings, emotions and memories. (Dmitrieva) For instance, blue is most commonly associated with “feeling blue” meaning one feels upset or depressed, however, blue is

When a beam of sunlight passes through a specially shaped glass object called a prism, the rays of different wavelengths are bent at different angles. The bending breaks up the sunlight into a beautiful band of colors. This band contains all the colors of the rainbow and is called the visible spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, the light appears as violet. It consists of the shortest wavelengths of light that we can see. Farther along the spectrum, the light has increasingly longer wavelengths. It appears as blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, each shading into its neighboring colors in the spectrum. The longest wavelengths of light that we can see appear deep red in color. Some descriptions of the spectrum also mention the color indigo, which is closely related to blue, between violet and blue.

Furthermore, color vision is not only beneficial in the survival of animals in the wild, but also the quality of life of animals in captivity. If an animal’s color vision is able to be determined, then enrichment, diet, and exhibit design can all be modified in a manner that provides the greatest mentally stimulating environment for the perception of that one individual. Ultimately, color vision is an

What is emitted (or reflected) from the eyes as an individual takes in and processes visual information are quanta of light. It is the qualities of this light (including color, intensity, and wavelength) that lead to a range of processes such as transduction that are translated by the brain into meaningful images.

Color Vision Development in Infants: The Responsibility of Cone Types and Wavelength in Order of Color Development

This explains why in low lights, such as moonlight, everything appears gray. As Rainwater said “By definition, color includes all aspects of light except variations in time and space.” (98) So color and light go hand in hand with each other “The color you see depends on the intensity and wavelengths of the light that illuminates the object, on the wavelengths of light reflected or transmitted by the object, on the color of the surrounding objects, and on absorption or reflection by substances in the light path” (Rainwater 99) Hue, saturation and brightness refer to the aspects of color. “Hue is the color sensation by which you distinguish the different parts of the spectrum- red, blue, green, yellow, etc.” (Rainwater 101) Saturation appears as the degree of hue in a color. “It is the color sensation by which you distinguish a hue as being pale or rich, weak or strong.” (Rainwater 102) Another one, brightness “Brightness is the primary visual sensation by which you detect the presence of light. It is associated with the quantity of the light and the intensity of the visual sensation.” (Rainwater 103) These refer to just some of the terms associated with color and the human

Using polarized light, things that have once gone unseen by the human eye can be brought to light, including cancerous tissues, which reflect this special form of light differently

The distinct colors we think we see are due to the lights by which we look

Humans have three cone cells that are extremely sensitive to Red, (620-700nm), Green (490-570nm) and Blue (450-495nm) wavelengths of light. Although these three cones are most sensitive to these wavelengths, they are still sensitive to the remaining wavelengths of visible light between 400-700nm. When a light with a wavelength of 600nm is transmitted through the retina, the Red and Green cones capture, sense and signal the brain that orange light is observed. In this case the Red and Green cones absorb light but the Green cones are less sensitive. Also, the Blue cones don’t absorb much light and are not sensitive

The optic nerve reaches from behind the eyes to the occipital lobe where this visual information can finally be interpreted into what we know as ‘seeing something’. It is at this point that it is useful as this is when colours can be perceived (Breedlove, 2010).

Colour vision for humans is a necessity. We need it in order to be able to understand and appreciate our surroundings in our lives. Using colour vision, we can identify shapes and objects in many different light intensities. Colour vision is not something that is present for infants as soon as they are born; it needs to develop and mature over time in order for it to be suitable for every day life. They have to learn, through practising, how to focus on objects, move their eyes and how to coordinate both eyes together. The development of colour vision in infants is a journey which takes place in the first few months of their life. The ability to see colour comes about from the presence of cone receptors found in the retina which can absorb

Since color is only perceived by the eyes and interpreted by the brain, the question of the existence of color arises. If not for the ability of receptors receiving reflected light, then how else does color exist? Furthermore, if everyone in the world was blind, then would blue still be blue? If the blue is still significant even without proper perception, then there must be some quality

Natural and artificial light have varying properties that affects their capability and appropriateness these properties regularly impact their surroundings. Natural light comes in a spectrum of colours, which are the visible rays. Also on the colour spectrum are shorter wavelengths, named ultraviolet rays and higher wavelengths, known as infrared rays. Both of these are not visible to us. Exposure to the sunlight can help

With today’s science, light becomes more specifically perceived as a spectrum. The specific name for this spectrum is the electromagnetic spectrum, which contains many types of waves (NASA, Electromagnetic Spectrum). In Figure 2, the spectrum shows a variety of wavelengths with specific wavelengths classified by its length. The range of wavelengths humans can see wavelengths that are around 400 – 700 nanometers (nm) as colors while all other electromagnetic waves are simply blind to humans. The interesting classes for light that are used to measure are microwave and infrared light. The laser is