Colors are much more complicated than they seem. We enjoy colorful designs every day without thinking much about the details behind them. But did you know that some of the colors we see don’t actually exist?
How is that even possible? And what other strange and bizarre color facts are we unaware of? The world of color is full of surprises, and the deeper you dive, the more there is to discover.
1. Some Colors Don’t Exist on the Visible Light Spectrum
We see colors because of the way our eyes interpret light. Our eyes use cone cells to perceive light that’s between 380 and 700 nanometers. Humans have three distinct color cones: red, green, and blue. Combinations of those can help you see all the colors in the world around you. However, there are some colors we can see that logically don’t exist.
The best example of this is magenta. Magenta is caused by stimulating your red and blue cones. Normally, those two cones would cause you to see what’s exactly in the middle, which is green. Yet, our eyes have a cone for green, so if it isn’t being stimulated, we can’t see green. Our eyes need to see something with those cones paired together, so they make up magenta, even though there’s no magenta on the visible light spectrum. So, even though we see magenta all the time, there’s no wavelength for it.
Magenta isn’t the only example of this. It’s easy for our eyes to view colors that appear between two wavelengths near each other on the spectrum, such as the color between red and yellow, which is orange. However, there isn’t an exact wavelength for colors appearing on opposite sides of the spectrum, such as red and green. Red and green cones usually result in yellow, which is what appears between them. Yet, we’re still able to see a mix of red and green, which is a muddy green color. It’s a color that’s visible to us, but it’s not common and doesn’t have its own wavelength.
For colors that don’t have a wavelength, our eyes are creating an illusion to help us see it. So, even though the color looks real to us, it doesn’t really exist at all.
2. There Are “Impossible Colors” That Don’t Appear During Normal Vision
Impossible colors differ from magenta and red-green because they theoretically exist, but we typically can’t see them. They are usually caused by an illusion known as “afterimages.” These occur when we stare at one image for a while and then quickly look away to see that image in different colors. If we stare at certain colors for a while, we can sometimes see colors we normally can’t if we quickly look away.
One example of this is hyperbolic green. Our eyes have trouble stimulating one cone cell without the others, so hyperbolic green is the result of only stimulating the green cone. To see hyperbolic green, you need to stare at magenta for a few seconds and then look away to see a green afterimage. Then, if you immediately look back at something green, the afterimage should combine with the green to create a greener green than you’ve ever seen.
Another example of an impossible color is a color that appears impossibly bright. You can see these colors by staring at the color’s opposite and then the color white. For example, if you stare at bright green and then white, you’ll see a very bright red color. While these colors can exist in unique contexts, we can’t see them in our normal color vision, which is why they’re called “impossible colors.”
3. Blue Objects in Nature Don’t Contain Blue Pigment
Blue is the rarest color in nature. Sure, the sky and water frequently appear blue, but when it comes to plants and animals, there are very few instances of blue. Even when you see a blue bird or a blue flower, it’s not really blue, at least not in the same way that other plants and animals are green, brown, or gray.
There are very few natural blue pigments in nature. The way light hits plants and animals makes them appear blue to us, but there’s no blue pigment in them. Additionally, only about 2-5% of the cone cells in our eyes are sensitive to blue light, making us slightly less likely to perceive blue compared to green and red.
So, the next time you see something blue in nature, make sure to take in the beauty. Those blue plants and animals appear much less often than we realize.
4. Brown Light Doesn’t Exist
Lights can shine in a wide range of colors, but you probably haven’t seen brown light. If you have, it wasn’t brown light at all. Look at something brown on your phone, go into a room with no light, and look at the brown object through a small opening in your fist. It will probably look more orange or red than brown. Why is that?
If you look at the visible light spectrum, you’ll notice that there’s no brown, similar to how there’s no magenta. When mixing colors of light, there aren’t any color combinations that would create brown. Mixing the three primary colors of paint (RYB color model) makes brown, but mixing the three primary colors of light (RGB color model) makes white. So, there are no brown light wavelengths and no way to mix brown with colored lights.
Yet, we can still see brown light, such as brown images on a screen. This brown is actually just dark orange that our brains perceive as brown in certain contexts. It’s fascinating how our brains can trick us into seeing colors differently.
5. Babies Are Born Without Color Vision
It’s clear that color vision is complicated, but it isn’t always. When we’re first born, we’re completely colorblind, seeing only black, white, and shades of gray. So, if you set up a colorful nursery, a baby won’t be able to experience all the colors until they’re older. However, if you use contrasting colors that are easy to distinguish in grayscale, babies will still find the patterns interesting to look at.
The first color babies can see is red, which appears within their first few weeks. Slowly, they begin to see other colors, such as green and blue. By three to four months of age, they can start seeing different shades of colors. They don’t have a wide range of color perception until about five months old, but even then, their color vision isn’t as vivid as how an adult perceives colors.
6. Certain Adults Can See Up to 100 Million Different Colors
While infants have limited color vision, most adults can see millions of different colors. Scientists believe that most people can distinguish about 10 million different colors. These colors are variations of the main color categories we know, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, white, black, gray, and brown. Not every color we see has a specific name, but we can usually describe it using other, more popular colors.
However, some people (only about 1%) have what’s called tetrachromacy, which means they have a fourth type of cone cell that allows them to see a wider range of colors than the average person. This fourth cone cell is thought to be somewhere in the realm of orange. People with tetrachromacy can see up to 100 million colors, ten times the amount of the average person.
7. Men and Women Might See Colors Differently
Researchers have discovered that most women can see a wider range of colors than men. The difference is most noticeable with shades of red, where women can almost always distinguish every shade, while men usually see only a few shades in a group of colors.
These unique findings are because the genes responsible for the perception of red and green are located on the X chromosome. So, people with two X chromosomes have an advantage when it comes to seeing those colors. Even if men can distinguish similar colors after focusing on them for a while, women can usually see the difference immediately without thinking about it.
Since women have better color vision than men, they’re also less likely to be colorblind. About 8% of men are colorblind, while only 0.5% of women are.
8. Not All Languages Have Words for Specific Colors
In the English language, there are lots of words to describe colors. It’s easy to tell if someone is talking about a type of blue versus a type of yellow in a conversation. However, not all languages have words for specific colors. Because of this, the language we speak can influence how we perceive colors.
Dani and Bassa are two languages that don’t have words for specific colors. Instead, they only have two words to describe them: one for light colors and one for dark colors. So, they could use a different word to describe light green and dark green, even though those two colors are similar in other languages.
Other languages, like Mursi, Kalam, and Warlpiri, don’t have extensive abstract color terms. Instead of describing something based on its color, they focus on other features, such as brightness, texture, and shape. Although describing colors is common in English, those terms aren’t necessary for all languages and cultures.
9. People Are More Likely to Forget Black and White Images Than Colorful Ones
Most people remember things easily if they’re in color instead of black and white. A group of psychologists studied this idea by having people look at 48 photos, half color and half black and white. Then, they mixed those photos up and showed them to the participants again. Each person had to identify whether they had already seen the image.
Regardless of how long they looked at each image, participants were more likely to remember images in color than those in black and white. If they first saw an image in color but were later shown it in black and white, they were less likely to remember it.
This research suggests that image colors are an important part of how pictures appear in our memory. Taking away that aspect of a photo can make it less memorable to us. Plus, bright colors are often quick to catch our attention, which is another reason we might remember them better.
