In the study called "Light: Waves and Photons," you explored the relationship between light and color. Within the visible spectrum, the shortest wavelengths of light (roughly 400 nm) are blue, and the longest wavelengths (around 700 nm) are red. These numbers represent the wavelengths of light not absorbed by compounds having these colors. For instance, a solution of copper sulfate appears blue because when it is exposed to electromagnetic radiation it transmits light with wavelengths near 400 nm and absorbs all other wavelengths. It's really the reflection of blue light, and the absence of colors at wavelengths that are far from 400 nm that our minds interpret as blue.
Now let's look at the color green. According to the visible spectrum presented in the study, green light has a wavelength of about 500 nm But does this make sense? Perhaps when you were younger and just learning to paint and draw, someone told you that yellow and blue make green. You figured out how to mix yellow and blue paints to get green paint. So is green a single wavelength or a combination of two different wavelengths?
Consider three green objects: a green sweater, the leaves on a tree, and the coating on green M & M's™. Imagine that these are all the exact same shade of green. Why are they green? Are they "pure" green or a mixture of yellow and blue? Is there any way you could tell the difference? Follow the directions below to go online and share your ideas with your classmates!
Scoring
This discussion is worth a maximum of 15 points. You'll get 10 points for participating. Your instructor will give you another 5 points if you post a follow-up comment or question that furthers the discussion.
Josh Dos Santos
ReplyDeleteWow first one again...:)
I do not think green is a combination of two wavelengths. Green is a secondary color, but I think that has to do with paint. Light does not work the same way.
Leaves are green because the chlorophyll absorbs every other wavelength except the green one, so it reflects green.
A sweater and an m&m are covered with some sort of paint or food coloring. These would be pigments and somehow these would reflect green light and absorb the others.
These pigments or paints can be mixtures of yellow and blue.
I think you could tell because if it is something painted, then pigments were used. If it is something in nature like a leaf, you know that light is being reflected.
Gah! Darn you blog and erasing my comment! CURSE YOU!!!
ReplyDelete*sighs*
Alright, light and paint are two different things obviously. Color in most natural and organic materials comes from the reflection of colors of the light spectrum. An M&M is paint, no matter what form of light you use on it it will remain the same color.
Although it would be awesome if M&M's did reflect light and thus could be rainbow!!
*cough* off topic, sorry.
The main point, as Josh previously made is that paint does not vary in color because of light, something with the chemical composition is most likely the cause for being able to mix colors which is what they do for sweaters and M&M's.
-Allie VanO
Megan Dickson
ReplyDeleteI believe that the color green, as it naturally exists, should be regarded as its own color and not as a combination of blue amd yellow. Light that is green has its own wavelength, 500 nm. The green that we see in grass, leaves, etc. is a reflection of green light. The cholorphyll, which serves in photosynthic measures, absorbs light of every other wavelength and thus every other color than green.
When we are looking at green on a sweater or on food, we can note that this color is seen because it is a mixture of unnatural substances, such as paint or food coloring. We cannot think of these in the same way that we think of the green light reflected by cholorphyll. The chemical make-up of the paint and/or food dye explains the color green we see in clothing or M&Ms.
Megan Dickson
ReplyDeleteAllie, interesting observations! I liked your thought about the rainbow M&Ms :()
I think that you are right in saying that the color green we see in nature is a reflection of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is also interesting that you noted how we can change colors of sweaters and food because we are not direcly using the spectrum there, but materials that show colors because of their chemical composition.
Ellen Cho
ReplyDeleteI think the color green in the light can be consider as a single wavelength. The color of lights is depend on how the wavelength is long or short. The green light has its own length of wavelength of 500nm that it's not a combination of other wavelengths.
The green colors of the sweater, leaves, and M&M are the reflection of lights which are already colored. The paintings or colorings are different from the lights that they can be combined together to make green colors, but the lights have its own color since every color has slightly differences of wavelengths from each other.
Ellen Cho
ReplyDeleteI also thought it was interesting idea to think how the M&M can be rainbow colors.
I think it was great point that the color on the sweater or M&M are chemical products that can be combined but the lights are just natural that they are different.
Andrew Park
ReplyDeleteIf green was a mixture of yellow and blue, it would not need its own wavelength. It would just be a combination of both.
It is just like combining elements to make a compound. The elements that make up a compound have their own characteristics. For example, the chloride in NaCl, in its element form, is poisionous or toxic. However, when it is mixed with sodium, it makes NaCl, or table salt, which we are able to eat with our food. In the same way, green may be the combination of blue and yellow, but it has its own characteristics, such as its own unique wavelength. This means that the green sweater, the leaves on a tree, and the coating on green M & M's™ are reflections of green, not yellow and blue.
Moon Kyu Kim
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the green is combination of 2 wavelength because you can't really combine 2 wavelength like combining 2 paints. The green is one particular wavelength, which leaves do not absorb.
For m&m's case, it is painted with some green thing. It can be combination of 2 colors because it is basicly some kind of paint. So, it is different.
Andrew Park
ReplyDeleteAbout the discussion of color green in nature being a reflection of the electromagnetic spectrum, isn't it still similar to the chemical compounds in a green sweater because they are just both reflections of the color green?
Esther Lee
ReplyDeletethe colors of the leaves on a tree are definitely "pure" green reflected by the the chlorphyll. This has its own green wavelength. However, a green sweater and the coating on green M & M are made by people. The colors of green sweater and M&M are mixtures of blue and yellow created by people. Therefore its wavelength is combination of blue and yellow wavelength.
Nice analysis Andrew about combining elements :) I agree, kinda changed my mind.
ReplyDeleteColor green is what the pigment reflects in any object. Although blue and yellow are mixed together, if it reflects green when shown in the light, then its wavelength would be the same. The wavelength of blue and yellow will reflect its own color.
Josh Dos Santos
ReplyDeleteEllen, you make a good point. Green light is green because of its WAVELENGTH, so it is its own unique color.
OMG i'm so late -_-
ReplyDeleteArghhh....
Alright, lets start with the answering simple problem. Why are the three materials green? it is because the substances reflects green wavelength and reflects other frequency waves. Chlorophyll in the leaves will act in such way ,and sweater and m and m, i don't know but there should be something that reflects the wavelength.
Then, is green combination of color, and how do we know? Well, first, what we require to do is to define what is color in such contexts. The color, in chemistry, refers to the waves of light. In this context, we cannot say that the color changes when yellow and blue paint is mixed, for green wave was always in the light every time. Rather, what has changed is the pigment, or the chemical, in the paint that reflects the color. The pigment itself never changed the wave, and green was always in the light all the times. Green, is a pure color, and by looking at spectrum, we can see it. If you were to make two spectrum, and make yellow and blue part overlap, what color would it show? I'm pretty sure that they won't mix, but just show a array of yellow and blue light within in designated area.
For these reasons, i think green is natural color...... and this was an abrupt conclusion.... XD
Umm, Esther, you have a good point about the sweater being dyed with paint, and not being a natural color. However, doesn't color still come from the light, and since paint only does the job of reflecting the green wave, wouldn't it be still a natural color, which is not a combination but rather it's unique own color?
ReplyDeleteJust wondering your point of view....
Dwayne Hahm
ReplyDeleteAs the green color exists in the nature, green should be the one individual color. Also, combining the yellow and the blue makes change in the wavelength, to the 500nm, so the color becomes the green. Hence, the green that is made out of these two colors is still one individual color.
The green color existing in sweater and M&Ms is made out from unnatural substances, such as food coloring and the paints. Although, these are still green it is different with the green leaves.
Green leaves’ green colors are coming from the reflection of the 500nm wavelength. As chlorophyll do the photosynthesis, which is absorbing the light except the green color, the green leaves’ colors are reflection of the lights’ wavelength.
Dwayne Hahm
ReplyDeleteThough, people had similar opinions they had little bit different way to achieve the problem. this helped me to understand better and thinking about the color of M&M, sweater, and leaves helped me to learn further.