It’s impossible to imagine a new color because our brains are wired to see colors in a certain way. The way we see colors is determined by the types of light receptors in our eyes. There are three different types of light receptors, each sensitive to a different range of wavelengths of light.
These ranges of wavelengths are what we perceive as different colors.
The shortest wavelength that our eyes can detect is violet light. Violet light has a wavelength of around 400 nanometers.
The longest wavelength that our eyes can detect is red light. Red light has a wavelength of around 700 nanometers. In between these two extremes, there are all the other colors that we can see: orange, yellow, green, and blue.
Our brains interpret the different wavelengths of light as different colors because of the way that the three types of light receptors in our eyes respond to them. When violet light hits one type of receptor, it triggers a response in another type of receptor, which then tells our brain that we’re seeing violet light.
It is impossible to imagine a new color because the human brain is not wired to process new colors. The brain can only interpret the colors that it has already been exposed to. When presented with a new color, the brain will try to find a close match from its existing database of colors.
This is why it is impossible for humans to see colors that don’t exist in nature.
Can You Imagine a Color That Doesn’T Exist?
If you think about it, every color we see is a result of light waves reflecting off of an object and into our eyes. Different colors are created when different wavelengths of light are reflected. So, in theory, there could be a color that we’ve never seen before because its corresponding wavelength doesn’t exist within the visible spectrum!
Is It Possible to Discover a New Color?
Yes, it is possible to discover a new color. In fact, there are two ways that this can happen: either through the creation of a new pigment or through the discovery of a new light wavelength.
Pigments are created when molecules absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others.
For example, chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light but reflects green light, which is why leaves appear green. If a chemist could create a molecule that absorbed all wavelengths of visible light except for one, then that one remaining wavelength would appear as a new color to us. This has actually been done before; in 2009, Japanese researchers created a pigment they called “YInMn blue” because it is made from yttrium, indium and manganese atoms.
The other way to discover a new color is by finding a new wavelength of light altogether. We currently know of seven different colors in the visible spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) but there are an infinite number of possibilities beyond that. For example, infra-redlight is just outside our visible range – if we could see it, it would appear as another color to us.
Similarly, ultraviolet light also exists beyond our current range of vision but we can detect it with special instruments like black lights. So while we may not be able to see any brand-new colors anytime soon without some sort of technological assistance, there’s definitely potential for their existence out there in the universe.
Credit: watchmojo.com
13 Colors Humans Can’T See
There are colors that we cannot see with our eyes, but they exist all around us. These colors are outside of the visible spectrum for humans, which means our eyes cannot detect them. However, other animals can see these colors because their eyes are sensitive to different wavelengths of light.
Here are 13 colors that humans cannot see:
1. Infrared light is invisible to us, but it’s responsible for heating up objects like our skin. It has a longer wavelength than red light, and we can feel its warmth but not see it.
2. Ultraviolet light is also invisible to us, but it’s what makes things look brighter under a blacklight. This type of light has a shorter wavelength than violet light, so our eyes can’t detect it.
3. X-rays have even shorter wavelengths than UV light, and they’re used to take pictures of our bones and organs.
We can’t see x-rays because they would damage our eyesight if we were exposed to them for too long.
4. Gamma rays have the shortest wavelengths of all electromagnetic radiation, and they’re used in cancer treatment because they kill cells quickly. We can’t see gamma rays either since they would also be harmful to our vision if we were exposed to them directly.
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5. Red-green color blindness is the most common form of color blindness in humans, affecting about 8% of men and 0.5% of women worldwide . This condition makes it difficult to distinguish between certain shades of red and green , so those affected by it may not be able to see some colors on this list .
Conclusion
In his blog post, “Why is it Impossible to Imagine a New Color?”, writer Jay Ingram explains why we cannot imagine a new color. He begins by asking readers to consider the colors they see everyday – red, blue, yellow, etc. – and how those colors are created by different wavelengths of light.
He then points out that there are an infinite number of wavelengths of light, meaning there are an infinite number of potential colors. So why can’t we imagine a new color? Ingram explains that it’s because our brains are hardwired to see only certain colors.
We perceive colors based on the three types of cones in our eyes, which each detect different wavelengths of light. So while there may be an infinite number of colors out there, we will never be able to see them all because our brain is limited in what it can process.