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One Of The Less Obvious Characteristics Of Light Is Color |
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Color is the tone of light as we see it. Most people think of light as being white, but it is really a balanced mixture of different wavelengths that combine to produce the quality called white. |
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How Light Is Perceived |
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| Electromagnetic radiation is emitted by all objects and reflected by some. A portion of this electromagnetic radiation takes the form of visible waves. These waves are interpreted by the human eye and brain as light. Their intensity is interpreted as brightness and their length as color. When we say that a signal is blue, we are really saying that the signal in question reflects the blue wavelengths in light while absorbing the others. | |||||||||
| Note: In the year 1666 the 23-year-old English genius Isaac Newton first demonstrated that light is the source color. Newton passed a beam of sunlight through a glass prism, producing the rainbow array of hues of the visible spectrum. This phenomenon had always been related to latent color existing in the glass of the prism. Newton, however, passed his rainbow through a second prism that reconstituted the original white beam of light. His conclusion was revolutionary: color is in the light, not the glass, and the light that we see as white is really a mixture of all the colors of the spectrum | |||||||||
| The splitting of white light into its spectral colors is called "Dispersion". This is what gives some signals their internal fire. | |||||||||
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The Color of Light |
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| Daylight is composed of all the colors of the spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Most people perceive noon time daylight as a natural, balanced spectrum of light. The balance of colors in white light is described in terms of temperature. Measured in degrees Kelvin (ºK), color temperature is usually displayed as a vertical bar or thermometer. Temperatures at the bottom of the thermometer contain a high proportion of red wavelengths and are thus warmer. As the temperature advances up the scale, the red is replaced by growing amounts of blue, and the balances of colors approximate that of daylight | |||||||||
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Light Sources And Their Influence On Color |
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Incandescent - light that is a by-product of heat. |
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| a yellowish, white light that brightens warm colors and mutes cool colors | |||||||||
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Candle ( 1,500ºK ) - 40 watt bulb ( 2,000ºK ) |
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100 watt bulb ( 2,500ºK ) - halogen bulb ( 2,800ºK ) |
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Noon Time Sun .......... The perceived natural color of light ( 5,500ºK ) |
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Fluorescent - light emitted from electrically charged, glowing phosphor |
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Cool White .. bluish white light that brightens green, yellow and blue but mutes red |
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( 3,500º K ) |
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Warm White .. light amber light that brightens orange and yellow but mutes red and blue |
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( 2,000º K.) |
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Cool White Deluxe .. white light that brightens virtually all colors and mutes none |
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(4,000º K ) |
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Warm White Deluxe .. white light that brightens red and orange but mutes blue & yellow |
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(2,500º K ) |
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possible light sources for display cases |
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Light and Color information is from our award wining display "Dripping With Color" |
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Page and graphics designed by Al & Ginny Way |
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Copyright © 1998-1999 Al & Ginny Way |
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All rights reserved. |
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