The Mystery of Red & Green Light Combinations

Click For Summary
SUMMARY

Mixing red light with green light results in the perception of yellow light due to the human visual system, not because yellow wavelengths are present. A red photon and a green photon do not combine to form a yellow photon. Spectrographic analysis or passing the mixture through a prism reveals that red and green light remains unchanged, confirming that yellow light exists only in perception. This distinction is crucial for understanding color theory and human vision.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of basic color theory
  • Knowledge of the human visual system
  • Familiarity with light wavelengths
  • Experience with spectrographic analysis techniques
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the principles of additive color mixing
  • Explore the human visual perception of color
  • Learn about spectrographic analysis methods
  • Investigate the physics of light and photon interactions
USEFUL FOR

Students of optics, educators in physics and art, and anyone interested in the science of color perception.

snoopies622
Messages
852
Reaction score
29
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?
 
Science news on Phys.org
Mixing light of red and green wavelengths produces something that appears yellow because of how the human visual system works.

But, that mixture does not actually have light of yellow wavelengths, even though these two cases appear (to us) to have the same color.
 
Redbelly eloquently explains it. If you did a spectrographic analysis (or simply passed it though a prism) you would see that the red and green light is still there, and that there is, in fact, no yellow light at all, except in our minds.
 
Hey, thanks!
 

Similar threads

Undergrad On Mixing Colors of Light
  • · Replies 207 ·
7
Replies
207
Views
13K
Undergrad Using primary color light filters
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
2K
High School Question about Primary Colors -- Why Red-Green-Blue?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
3K
High School Additive colour theory and "traditional" colour mixing
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
9K
Undergrad Is This....Right? Splitting LED colors is not working for me
  • · Replies 40 ·
2
Replies
40
Views
4K
Undergrad Creating White LEDs: Phosphor vs RGB
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Undergrad Doppler Effect -- How fast would you need to go for a red light to appear green?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
5K
What does it mean that when light is reflected the "wavelengths of each contributing hue are subtracted"?
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
2K
Undergrad Amount of single photons to make white light?
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
4K
Graduate Light wavelength transmission through ice
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K