![]() ![]() Relating specific colors to a region of wavelengths enables the differentiation between different tones, hues, and shades. Table 1 contains a listing of the apparent color distribution perceived by humans for a number of narrow wavelength bands in the visible light spectrum. Visible Light Wavelength and Perceived Color Wavelength Range The biological light sources include the familiar lightning bugs ("fireflies") and more exotic glows from the sea, including bioluminescent species of bacteria, algae, dinoflagellates, jellyfish, comb-jellies (ctenophores), and some species of fish. Other natural light sources include meteorological lightning, volcanoes, forest fires, plus some biochemical sources of visible light ( bioluminescence). Inside, we are exposed to visible light that originates from artificial sources, primarily fluorescent and incandescent tungsten devices.Īt night, natural light is produced by celestial bodies, such as the moon, planets, and stars, in addition to the periodic Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), and the occasional comet or meteor ("shooting star"). ![]() When venturing outside, a vast majority of the light visible to humans is emitted from the sun, which also produces many other frequencies of radiation that do not fall into the visible range. In our everyday lives, we are bombarded by an enormous spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, only a portion of which we are able to actually "see" as visible light. ![]() The visible light that humans are able to see (the spectrum is illustrated in Figure 1) is usually a mixture of wavelengths whose varying composition is a function of the light source. The shortest form of electromagnetic radiation, gamma waves, results from decay of nuclear components at the center of the atom. Relatively long radio waves are produced by electrical current flowing through huge broadcast antennas, while much shorter visible light waves are produced by the energy state fluctuations of negatively charged electrons within atoms. A wide variety of sources are responsible for emission of electromagnetic radiation, and are generally categorized according to the specific spectrum of wavelengths generated by the source. ![]()
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