We explain what the visible spectrum of light is, its wavelength range and the colors that make it up. Also, what is light.
What is the visible spectrum?
The visible spectrum or visible light is the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye is capable of perceiving and translating into the different colors that we know.
Electromagnetic radiation has different frequencies, of which our eye is capable of perceiving just one segment: the one corresponding to wavelengths between 380 and 750 nanometers approximately. Depending on the person, this range can be slightly wider or slightly narrower.
In white light, the visible spectrum contains absolutely all the colors that we are capable of seeing. Humans, depending on the wavelength of the radiation. A Rainbow, for example, is the result of a phenomenon of refraction of the light thanks to the water from the atmosphere, which alters its speed and "decomposes" it into the different colors.
This means that, depending on the properties of light waves (specifically, their wavelengths), we can talk about the different colors, as follows:
- Red (rubeus In latin). Between 780 and 618 nanometers.
- Orange (aureus). Between 618 and 581 nanometers.
- Yellow (flavius). Between 581 and 570 nanometers.
- Green (viridis). Between 570 and 497 nanometers.
- Cyan (coeruleus). Between 497 and 476 nanometers.
- Blue (indicus). Between 476 and 427 nanometers.
- Purple (violaceus). Between 427 and 380 nanometers.
Many known tones and colors cannot be seen in the decomposition of the visible spectrum because they are not monochromatic, that is, they involve the combination of two or more wavelengths: pink or pink, for example, is understood as red mixed with white. The same is true for the colors known as brown, silver, magenta, and gold.
Similarly, white and black, more than colors, are understood as values of the saturation of light: white corresponds to the sum of all colors, that is, to full light; while black corresponds to the absence of light.
Outside the visible spectrum, there are radiation with the wavelengths of infrared light (above 750 nm approx.) And those of ultraviolet light (below 400 nm approx.), Both extremes already invisible to the eye. human. Other life forms, such as insects, are capable of perceiving these wavelengths. Humans can do it only aided by instruments and optical devices of our invention.