Each of us (if he is not color blind) is sure that he is well versed in colors. Men at least distinguish blue from orange, and as for women, their ability to see a dozen or two shades of, say, red nail polish always shocks a strong half of humanity. However, we all, regardless of gender, believe that night darkness is black and that there are seven colors in a rainbow. But is it?
Dark night and rainbow
At night all around us is black and black. This is the same, that is, black, the color we see when we close our eyes. Sure? And in vain. The color of the night is actually called eigengrau, which translates from German as "inner gray". It is lighter than black, but almost no one knows about it except graphic designers. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that the color of aigengrau to determine the "color of the night" was proposed (and adopted) only in the 19th century. Previously, it was believed that the night is black, as well as the color that we see when we close our eyes tightly.
And the blackest color in the world is called vantablack. This color is so black that it cannot be blacker. It was created artificially and looks like a black hole in space, because it does not reflect, but absorbs light.
The fact that there are seven colors in the rainbow was "invented" by Sir Isaac Newton, and we just repeat after him, without even thinking why there are seven colors in the rainbow, and not five or 12. But Newton at one time thought and decided, that seven is a very good number, since there are seven notes, seven planets of the solar system (known at that time), in a week there are seven days, and so on. Therefore, for a rainbow, seven colors are quite acceptable.
Before Newton, in the XIV-XVI centuries, the inhabitants of Europe were sure that there are only four colors in the rainbow: red, yellow, green and blue. And the ancient Greeks who lived even earlier were in the belief that there are only three colors: red, yellow-green and purple. Homer fiercely argued with fellow citizens, claiming that there is only one color in the rainbow - purple. Either this is a whim of a genius, or the fact is that, as everyone knows, he was simply blind. And you will be very surprised when you learn that the Chinese still believe that there are five colors in a rainbow. In fact, there are as many colors in a rainbow as we perceive, because there are no clear boundaries between them. And only one color is missing - pink.
Promotional video:
Where did the pink go?
No, of course, pink exists, any woman will tell you that. But there is no natural pink light in nature, it can only be created artificially, using light filters. But why is it not in nature? But because pink can only be obtained by mixing red with purple. But since both of these colors are located on opposite sides of the rainbow, they themselves never mix with each other.
As for water, it is colorless. Any schoolchild will confirm this to you. And … will be mistaken. Even very pure distilled water is actually light blue like the sky. But to see this color, you need a lot of water.
Lovely space and yellow sun
What does space look like? He is amazing - say those who have never been in space and judge him only from NASA images. And NASA, let's tell you a secret, is very fond of coloring their photos in bright cheerful colors - just like in kindergarten. And then, looking at these funny pictures, we begin to believe that everything in space looks just as fun and beautiful.
This is not true. In near space, everything is rather dull and sad. There, against a dark background, only rare glowing dots-stars wink at each other, and its only decoration is our Mother Earth. If you, while on the space station, pick up a telescope, you will see through it that these points are either red or blue. That's all cosmic beauty.
Society believes that the Sun is yellow, and we do not argue with public opinion. Even as children, we always used a yellow pencil or felt-tip pen to depict the sun, and we are so used to it that we teach our children to draw the Sun in yellow. But in fact, if we look at it closely (although it is better not to do this), we will find that our star is white!
Different languages
We can argue endlessly about colors. What color is your coat? Fuchsia or amaranth? Or a pink flamingo? But you need to understand that we distinguish only those colors whose names we know. Why are many not able to distinguish between dark tangerine and dahlia yellow? Because they have no idea about their existence and believe that both of these colors are one and it is called orange.
The language of each nation formed its own palette, although it should be noted that all nations started out the same way. First they gave the name to black and white colors. Then it was the turn of the red. Apparently because blood and wine - very close to a person liquids - are red. Then there was a line of yellow and green colors, and only then all the others received the name.
By the way, blue has long been considered a shade of green. Of all the ancient peoples, only the Egyptians came up with a separate name for this color. And even now, in one of the tribes of Namibia (South Africa), there is no such thing as blue. If you show someone from the representatives of this tribe a blue thing, then this representative will be at a loss and, at best, will assume that the thing in front of him is green, but with some strange shade.
Forbidden Colors
Sadly, there are colors that are beyond our eyesight. And not at all because they are in the spectrum inaccessible to us - ultraviolet or infrared. And because our brain is simply not able to perceive these colors - red-green and blue-yellow. They are called that - forbidden. And do not tell us that you already got them in childhood, smearing on a sheet of paper in turn red and green or blue and yellow. What you got as a result of your art can be called a dirty brown color, which has nothing to do with any of the above.
Why is this happening? Why can't we not only receive, but even imagine these two colors - red-green and blue-yellow? This is because colors are determined using special cells in the retina called "opponents of neurons." These opponents "light up" when we see red or yellow (and give a corresponding signal to the brain), and go out when we see green and blue, which is also a signal for us. Most colors can mix and the opponents of neurons tell us about the appearance of shades. But the red and green colors (or blue and yellow) emanating simultaneously from the same source simultaneously excite and suppress retinal cells. And the cells simply ignore this mixture. So we will never see these two colors, but they still exist.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №7. Author: Igor Saveliev