Subtitles section Play video
-
There are so many wonderful colors in the world - canary yellow, cadmium green, ultramarine.
-
ULTRAMARINE!
-
But how exactly do we get to see these amazing colors?
-
Well all color begins with light. So as the sun beams down overhead, it's actually casting
-
the entire spectrum of colors over you. When that light hits an object - like an apple
-
- the object absorbs some and reflects the rest. Whatever wavelengths of light are reflected
-
back are the colors you see.
-
So that ripe apple has a wavelength of about 650 nanometers, which is science talk for
-
the color red.
-
That amazing kaleidoscope of colors gets seen by your eye through three different types
-
of color receptors: red, green and blue (if you didn't know, that’s RGB. now you know).
-
Theses are found in cells called cones in the back of your your eye. They are responsible
-
for photopic or daytime vision and see the full spectrum of colors that can be made from
-
these three colors.
-
There are also rods in your retina that allow you to see, but they are responsible for scotopic
-
or night vision.
-
So humans have three color receptors that allow us to see the rainbow, but what if I
-
told you there are animals that have more than three?
-
Well the mighty mantis shrimp has an incredible twelve different photoreceptors in its eye.
-
That’s four times more than us! This tiny creature can see a vast array of colors that
-
are impossible for us to ever see. It’s probably like looking at a quadruple, super
-
mega rainbow all the time. Wowza****
-
Want to know more about what happens to our eyes? I think you’d love this explanation
-
why we get those sagging, tired bags under our eyes.
