Friday, 7 November 2014

vision - Why do objects of a given color appear white under light of that color?


Under light from the sun, a red object will scatter the red component of light, and absorb all others. Hence, the human eye perceives it as "red". White objects scatter all wavelengths of light.


Yesterday I bought an orange light bulb. Under its light, orange/reddish carrots look white. Why is that? A "white" object would have to scatter all wavelengths of light, but there's only red light to begin with.


Here's a photo of a person's hand, in white then in red light. Notice the color of the red nails. Do they appear white in red light, or does the white skin appear red?


Gorgeous red nails under red and white light




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