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[deleted] t1_iu3haks wrote

Reply to comment by Vreejack in Enter a wavelength of visible light (380nm - 808nm) to see what color it is by CoherentPhoton

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TossAway35626 t1_iu3l1a9 wrote

Fun fact, its only due to a weird quirk of biology, an imperfection, that red and blue make purple. Were it not for this we would have a completely different color wheel.

The cone that picks up red also picks up just a bit of violet. So if something triggers both our red and blue rods, it must be purple. Our eyes cannot tell the difference between a single wavelength triggering red and blue and 2 wavelengths triggering red and blue, it sends the same purple signal to our brain either way.

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[deleted] t1_iu3lk5q wrote

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TossAway35626 t1_iu55mg9 wrote

I do not remember that comment, I should stop redditing before bed.

I feel describing cones by the colors they pick up makes it easier for people to understand. Not sure what was going through my head when I said rods though, I referred to them correctly earlier in the comment.

I would actually like to see monochromatic violet next to red and blue to see if there's an actual difference. Its not exactly possible to imitate this experiment with a screen.

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