Wavelength. Red is the lower limit of the visible spectrum

In nature there are no flowers as such. Each shade, which we see, is assigned by this or that wavelength. Red color is formed under the influence of the longest waves and represents one of the two faces of the visible spectrum.

About the nature of color

The appearance of this or that color can be explained by the laws of physics. All colors and shades are the results of brain processing of information coming through the eyes in the form of light waves of different lengths. In the absence of waves, people see black, and when the whole spectrum is applied simultaneously, it is white.

The colors of objects are determined by the ability of their surfaces to absorb waves of a certain length and repel all others. Also, the illumination is important: the brighter the light, the more intense the waves are reflected, and the brighter the object looks.

People are able to distinguish more than one hundred thousand flowers. Favorite by many scarlet, burgundy and cherry shades are formed by the longest waves. However, so that the human eye can see red, the wavelength should not exceed 700 nanometers. Behind this threshold, an infrared spectrum invisible to people begins. The opposite boundary separating the violet shades from the ultraviolet spectrum is about 400 nm.

Color spectrum

The spectrum of colors as some of their aggregate, distributed in order of increasing wavelength, was discovered by Newton during his famous experiments with a prism. It was he who distinguished 7 distinct colors, and among them - 3 basic ones. Red refers to both distinguishable and basic. All the shades that people distinguish are the visible region of the vast electromagnetic spectrum. Thus, color is an electromagnetic wave of a certain length, not shorter than 400, but not longer than 700 nm.

Newton noticed that beams of light of different colors had different degrees of refraction. If expressed more correctly, the glass refracted them in different ways. The maximum speed of passage of rays through the substance and, as a consequence, the smallest refractivity contributed to the largest wavelength. Red is the visible reflection of the least refracted rays.

Waves forming a red color

Electromagnetic wave is characterized by such parameters as the length, frequency and energy of a photon. By wavelength (λ) it is customary to understand the smallest distance between its points, which oscillate in the same phases. Basic units of wavelength measurement:

• Micron (1/1000000 meters);
• Millimicron, or nanometer (1/1000 microns);
• Angstrom (1/10 millikron).

The maximum possible wavelength of red color is 780 mk (7800 angstroms) when passing through a vacuum. The minimum wavelength of this spectrum is 625 mk (6250 angstroms).

Another important indicator is the oscillation frequency. It is interrelated with the length, so the wave can be specified by any of these quantities. The frequency of red waves is in the range from 400 to 480 Hz. The photon energy thus forms a range from 1.68 to 1.98 eV.

Temperature of red color

The shades that a person subconsciously perceives as warm or cold, from a scientific point of view, as a rule, have the opposite temperature regime. The colors associated with sunlight - red, orange, yellow - are generally regarded as warm, and opposite to them - as cold.

However, the theory of radiation proves the opposite: in red shades, the color temperature is much lower than in blue. In fact, it is easy to confirm: hot young stars have a bluish light, and fading - red; The metal will turn red at first, then yellow, and after - white.

According to Wien's law, there is an inverse relationship between the degree of heating of the wave and its length. The stronger the object is heated, the greater the power comes from the radiation from the short-wave region, and vice versa. It only remains to recall where in the visible spectrum there is the greatest wavelength: the red color occupies a position contrasting with the blue tones, and is the least warm.

Shades of red

Depending on the specific meaning that the wavelength has, red color acquires different shades: scarlet, crimson, burgundy, brick, cherry, etc.

The shade is characterized by 4 parameters. These are such as:

1. Tone is the place that color takes in the spectrum among the 7 visible colors. The length of the electromagnetic wave sets the tone.
2. Brightness - determined by the power of radiation energy of a certain color tone. The limiting decrease in brightness leads to a person seeing a black color. With a gradual increase in brightness, a brown color appears , followed by a burgundy, after - scarlet, and with the maximum increase in energy - bright red.
3. Serene - characterizes the proximity of the hue to white. White color is the result of mixing waves of different spectra. With a sequential build-up of this effect, the red color turns into crimson, then into pink, then into light pink and finally white.
4. Saturation - determines the remoteness of the color from gray. Gray color by its nature - these are the three primary colors, mixed in different amounts when the brightness of the light emission is reduced to 50%.