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snoopies622
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Red light mixed with green light produces yellow light. Yet, a red photon and a green photon don't combine to make a yellow photon (or two of them). Can someone explain this?
The "mystery" lies in the fact that when red and green light are combined, they appear to create yellow light, even though yellow is not one of the primary colors of light. This phenomenon is known as additive color mixing.
Additive color mixing works by combining two or more primary colors of light to create a new color. This is because our eyes have three types of color receptors that are sensitive to red, green, and blue light. When these colors are mixed, they stimulate different combinations of receptors, creating the perception of a new color.
No, only specific combinations of red and green light can create yellow. This is because the wavelengths of red and green light need to fall within a certain range to stimulate the correct combination of color receptors in our eyes.
In addition to yellow, additive color mixing can also create magenta (a combination of red and blue light), cyan (a combination of green and blue light), and white (a combination of all three primary colors).
Additive color mixing involves combining different colors of light, while subtractive color mixing involves combining different pigments or dyes. In subtractive color mixing, the more colors that are combined, the darker the resulting color becomes, while in additive color mixing, the more colors that are combined, the lighter the resulting color becomes.