Why does red light plus green light make yellow if photons don't interact?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter cragar
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Light Mixing
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
2 replies · 2K views
cragar
Messages
2,546
Reaction score
3
when i mix red light and green light i get yellow light, but QED says that photons do not interact so why am i seeing yellow light, , I know they obey superposition , what does it mean for two photons two superimpose physically . how is the localized energy of the photons interacting .
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What you see here is nothing to do with photons interacting.
It is a consequence of the way our eyes are sensitive to light.
The eye has 3 types colour receptor, each sensitive to a different overlapping range of wavelengths of visible light. All the various phenomena relating to the mixing and combining of colours depend on this.
Wiki has a good article on colour vision.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision#Physiology_of_color_perception
 
cragar said:
when i mix red light and green light i get yellow light,

See http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/wcolor.html" for all the gory details.

--John
 
Last edited by a moderator: