Visible spectrum - wikipedia Visible spectrum `` Color spectrum '' redirects here. For The Dear Hunter album, see The Color Spectrum. White light is dispersed by a prism into the colors of the visible spectrum. The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light or simply light. A typical human eye will respond to wavelengths from about 390 to 700 nm. In terms of frequency, this corresponds to a band in the vicinity of 430 -- 770 THz. The spectrum does not, however, contain all the colors that the human eyes and brain can distinguish. Unsaturated colors such as pink, or purple variations such as magenta, are absent, for example, because they can be made only by a mix of multiple wavelengths. Colors containing only one wavelength are also called pure colors or spectral colors. Visible wavelengths pass through the `` optical window '', the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that allows wavelengths to pass largely unattenuated through the Earth 's atmosphere. An example of this phenomenon is that clean air scatters blue light more than red wavelengths, and so the midday sky appears blue. The optical window is also referred to as the `` visible window '' because it overlaps the human visible response spectrum. The near infrared ( NIR ) window lies just out of the human vision, as well as the Medium Wavelength IR ( MWIR ) window, and the Long Wavelength or Far Infrared ( LWIR or FIR ) window, although other animals may experience them. Contents 1 History 2 Animal color vision 3 Spectral colors 4 Spectroscopy 5 Color display spectrum 6 See also 7 References History Newton 's color circle, from Opticks of 1704, showing the colors he associated with musical notes. The spectral colors from red to violet are divided by the notes of the musical scale, starting at D. The circle completes a full octave, from D to D. Newton 's circle places red, at one end of the spectrum, next to violet, at the other. This reflects the fact that non-spectral purple colors are observed when red and violet light are mixed. In the 13th century, Roger Bacon theorized that rainbows were produced by a similar process to the passage of light through glass or crystal. In the 17th century, Isaac Newton discovered that prisms could disassemble and reassemble white light, and described the phenomenon in his book Opticks. He was the first to use the word spectrum ( Latin for `` appearance '' or `` apparition '' ) in this sense in print in 1671 in describing his experiments in optics. Newton observed that, when a narrow beam of sunlight strikes the face of a glass prism at an angle, some is reflected and some of the beam passes into and through the glass, emerging as different - colored bands. Newton hypothesized light to be made up of `` corpuscles '' ( particles ) of different colors, with the different colors of light moving at different speeds in transparent matter, red light moving more quickly than violet in glass. The result is that red light is bent ( refracted ) less sharply than violet as it passes through the prism, creating a spectrum of colors. Newton 's observation of prismatic colors ( David Brewster 1855 ) Newton divided the spectrum into seven named colors : red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. He chose seven colors out of a belief, derived from the ancient Greek sophists, of there being a connection between the colors, the musical notes, the known objects in the solar system, and the days of the week. The human eye is relatively insensitive to indigo 's frequencies, and some people who have otherwise - good vision can not distinguish indigo from blue and violet. For this reason, some later commentators, including Isaac Asimov, have suggested that indigo should not be regarded as a color in its own right but merely as a shade of blue or violet. However, the evidence indicates that what Newton meant by `` indigo '' and `` blue '' does not correspond to the modern meanings of those color words. Comparing Newton 's observation of prismatic colors to a color image of the visible light spectrum shows that `` indigo '' corresponds to what is today called blue, whereas `` blue '' corresponds to cyan. In the 18th century, Goethe wrote about optical spectra in his Theory of Colours. Goethe used the word spectrum ( Spektrum ) to designate a ghostly optical afterimage, as did Schopenhauer in On Vision and Colors. Goethe argued that the continuous spectrum was a compound phenomenon. Where Newton narrowed the beam of light to isolate the phenomenon, Goethe observed that a wider aperture produces not a spectrum but rather reddish - yellow and blue - cyan edges with white between them. The spectrum appears only when these edges are close enough to overlap. In the early 19th century, the concept of the visible spectrum became more definite, as light outside the visible range was discovered and characterized by William Herschel ( infrared ) and Johann Wilhelm Ritter ( ultraviolet ), Thomas Young, Thomas Johann Seebeck, and others. Young was the first to measure the wavelengths of different colors of light, in 1802. The connection between the visible spectrum and color vision was explored by Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz in the early 19th century. Their theory of color vision correctly proposed that the eye uses three distinct receptors to perceive color. Animal color vision See also : Color vision § Physiology of color perception Many species can see light within frequencies outside the human `` visible spectrum ''. Bees and many other insects can detect ultraviolet light, which helps them find nectar in flowers. Plant species that depend on insect pollination may owe reproductive success to their appearance in ultraviolet light rather than how colorful they appear to humans. Birds, too, can see into the ultraviolet ( 300 -- 400 nm ), and some have sex - dependent markings on their plumage that are visible only in the ultraviolet range. Many animals that can see into the ultraviolet range, however, can not see red light or any other reddish wavelengths. Bees ' visible spectrum ends at about 590 nm, just before the orange wavelengths start. Birds, however, can see some red wavelengths, although not as far into the light spectrum as humans. The popular belief that the common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infrared and ultraviolet light is incorrect, because goldfish can not see infrared light. Similarly, dogs are often thought to be color blind but they have been shown to be sensitive to colors, though not as many as humans. Spectral colors Color Wavelength Frequency Photon energy Violet 380 -- 450 nm 668 -- 789 THz 2.75 -- 3.26 eV Blue 450 -- 495 nm 606 -- 668 THz 2.50 -- 2.75 eV Green 495 -- 570 nm 526 -- 606 THz 2.17 -- 2.50 eV Yellow 570 -- 590 nm 508 -- 526 THz 2.10 -- 2.17 eV Orange 590 -- 620 nm 484 -- 508 THz 2.00 -- 2.10 eV Red 620 -- 750 nm 400 -- 484 THz 1.65 -- 2.00 eV Colors that can be produced by visible light of a narrow band of wavelengths ( monochromatic light ) are called pure spectral colors. The various color ranges indicated in the illustration are an approximation : The spectrum is continuous, with no clear boundaries between one color and the next. Spectroscopy Rough plot of Earth 's atmospheric opacity to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light Spectroscopy is the study of objects based on the spectrum of color they emit, absorb or reflect. Spectroscopy is an important investigative tool in astronomy, where scientists use it to analyze the properties of distant objects. Typically, astronomical spectroscopy uses high - dispersion diffraction gratings to observe spectra at very high spectral resolutions. Helium was first detected by analysis of the spectrum of the sun. Chemical elements can be detected in astronomical objects by emission lines and absorption lines. The shifting of spectral lines can be used to measure the Doppler shift ( red shift or blue shift ) of distant objects. Color display spectrum Approximation of spectral colors on a display results in somewhat distorted chromaticity A rendering of the visible spectrum on a gray background produces non-spectral mixtures of pure spectrum with gray, which fit into the sRGB color space. Color displays ( e.g. computer monitors and televisions ) can not reproduce all colors discernible by a human eye. Colors outside the color gamut of the device, such as most spectral colors, can only be approximated. For color - accurate reproduction, a spectrum can be projected onto a uniform gray field. The resulting mixed colors can have all their R, G, B coordinates non-negative, and so can be reproduced without distortion. This accurately simulates looking at a spectrum on a gray background. See also Wikisource has original text related to this article : Definition of the Color Indigo Wikimedia Commons has media related to Visible spectrum. High - energy visible light Electromagnetic absorption by water # Visible region, why water is blue References Jump up ^ Cecie Starr ( 2005 ). Biology : Concepts and Applications. Thomson Brooks / Cole. ISBN 0 - 534 - 46226 - X. Jump up ^ Coffey, Peter ( 1912 ). The Science of Logic : An Inquiry Into the Principles of Accurate Thought. Longmans. Jump up ^ Isacoff, Stuart ( 16 January 2009 ). Temperament : How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 12 -- 13. ISBN 978 - 0 - 307 - 56051 - 3. Retrieved 18 March 2014. Jump up ^ Asimov, Isaac ( 1975 ). Eyes on the universe : a history of the telescope. Boston : Houghton Mifflin. p. 59. ISBN 978 - 0 - 395 - 20716 - 1. Jump up ^ Evans, Ralph M. ( 1974 ). The perception of color ( null ed. ). New York : Wiley - Interscience. ISBN 978 - 0 - 471 - 24785 - 2. Jump up ^ McLaren, K. ( March 2007 ). `` Newton 's indigo ''. Color Research & Application. 10 ( 4 ) : 225 -- 229. doi : 10.1002 / col. 5080100411. Jump up ^ Waldman, Gary ( 2002 ). Introduction to light : the physics of light, vision, and color ( Dover ed. ). Mineola : Dover Publications. p. 193. ISBN 978 - 0 - 486 - 42118 - 6. Jump up ^ Mary Jo Nye ( editor ) ( 2003 ). The Cambridge History of Science : The Modern Physical and Mathematical Sciences. 5. Cambridge University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 57199 - 9. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ John C.D. Brand ( 1995 ). Lines of light : the sources of dispersive spectroscopy, 1800 -- 1930. CRC Press. pp. 30 -- 32. ISBN 978 - 2 - 88449 - 163 - 1. Jump up ^ Cuthill, Innes C ( 1997 ). `` Ultraviolet vision in birds ''. In Peter J.B. Slater. Advances in the Study of Behavior. 29. Oxford, England : Academic Press. p. 161. ISBN 978 - 0 - 12 - 004529 - 7. Jump up ^ Jamieson, Barrie G.M. ( 2007 ). Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Birds. Charlottesville VA : University of Virginia. p. 128. ISBN 1 - 57808 - 386 - 9. Jump up ^ Skorupski, Peter ; Chittka, Lars ( 10 August 2010 ). `` Photoreceptor Spectral Sensitivity in the Bumblebee, Bombus impatiens ( Hymenoptera : Apidae ) ''. PLoS ONE. 5 ( 8 ) : e12049. Bibcode : 2010PLoSO... 512049S. doi : 10.1371 / journal. pone. 0012049. Jump up ^ Varela, F.J. ; Palacios, A.G. ; Goldsmith T.M. `` Color vision of birds '' in Ziegler & Bischof ( 1993 ) 77 -- 94 Jump up ^ `` True or False ? `` The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra - red and ultra-violet light. '' -- Skeptive ``. Retrieved September 28, 2013. Jump up ^ Neumeyer, Christa ( 2012 ). `` Chapter 2 : Color Vision in Goldfish and Other Vertebrates ''. In Lazareva, Olga ; Shimizu, Toru ; Wasserman, Edward. How Animals See the World : Comparative Behavior, Biology, and Evolution of Vision. Oxford Scholarship Online. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 533465 - 4. Jump up ^ `` Colour cues proved to be more informative for dogs than brightness ''. Retrieved November 29, 2015. Jump up ^ Thomas J. Bruno, Paris D.N. Svoronos. CRC Handbook of Fundamental Spectroscopic Correlation Charts. CRC Press, 2005. Jump up ^ `` Reproducing Visible Spectra ''. RepairFAQ.org. Retrieved 2011 - 02 - 09. Electromagnetic spectrum ← higher frequencies longer wavelengths → Gamma rays X-rays Ultraviolet Visible Infrared Terahertz radiation Microwave Radio Visible ( optical ) Violet Blue Green Yellow Orange Red Microwaves W band V band Q band K band K band K band X band S band C band L band Radio EHF SHF UHF VHF HF MF LF VLF ULF SLF ELF Wavelength types Microwave Shortwave Medium wave Longwave Physiology of vision Gaze Accommodation Intraocular pressure Visual field Color vision Color blindness Achromatopsia Opponent process Monochromacy Dichromacy Trichromacy Tetrachromacy Pentachromacy Radiation ( physics and health ) Main articles Non-ionizing radiation Acoustic radiation force Infrared Light Microwave Radio waves Ultraviolet Ionizing radiation Alpha particle Background radiation Beta particle Cosmic ray Gamma ray Nuclear fission Nuclear fusion Radioactive decay Nuclear reactors Nuclear weapons Particle accelerators Radioactive materials X-ray Earth 's radiation balance Electromagnetic radiation Thermal radiation Gravitational Radiation Radiation and health Acute radiation syndrome Health physics Dosimetry Electromagnetic radiation and health Laser safety Lasers and aviation safety Medical radiography Mobile phone radiation and health Radiation poisoning Radiation Protection Radiation therapy Radioactivity in the life sciences Radioactive contamination Radiobiology Biological dose units and quantities Wireless electronic devices and health Radiation Heat - transfer Related articles Half - life Nuclear physics Radioactive source Radiation hardening List of civilian radiation accidents 1996 Costa Rica accident 1987 Goiânia accident 1984 Moroccan accident 1990 Zaragoza accident See also : the categories Radiation effects, Radioactivity, Radiobiology, and Radiation protection. Color topics Red Orange Yellow Green Cyan Blue Indigo Violet Purple Magenta Pink Brown White Gray Black Color science Color physics Electromagnetic spectrum Light Rainbow Visible Spectral colors Chromophore Structural coloration Animal coloration On Vision and Colors Metamerism Spectral power distribution Color perception Color vision Color blindness Achromatopsia test Tetrachromacy Color constancy Color term Color depth Color photography Spot color Color printing Web colors Color mapping Color code Color management Chrominance False color Chroma key Color balance Color cast Color temperature Eigengrau Color psychology Color symbolism Color preferences Lüscher color test Kruithof curve Political color National colors Chromophobia Chromotherapy Color philosophy Color space Color model additive subtractive Color mixing Primary color Secondary color Tertiary color ( intermediate ) Quaternary color Quinary color Aggressive color ( warm ) Receding color ( cool ) Pastel colors Color gradient Color scheme Color tool Monochromatic colors Complementary colors Analogous colors Achromatic colors ( Neutral ) Polychromatic colors Impossible colors Light - on - dark Tinctures in heraldry Color theory Chromaticity diagram Color solid Color wheel Color triangle Color analysis ( art ) Color realism ( art style ) Color terms Basic terms Blue Green Red Yellow Pink Purple Orange Black Gray White Brown Cultural differences Linguistic relativity and the color naming debate Blue -- green distinction in language Color history Color in Chinese culture Traditional colors of Japan Human skin color Color dimensions Hue Dichromatism Colorfulness ( chroma and saturation ) Tints and shades Lightness ( tone and value ) Grayscale Color organizations Pantone Color Marketing Group The Color Association of the United States International Colour Authority International Commission on Illumination ( CIE ) International Color Consortium International Colour Association Lists List of colors : A -- F List of colors : G -- M List of colors : N -- Z List of colors ( compact ) List of colors by shade List of color palettes List of color spaces List of Crayola crayon colors history pencil colors marker colors Color chart List of fictional colors List of RAL colors List of web colors Related Vision Image processing Multi-primary color display Quattron Qualia Lighting Local color ( visual art ) Portal Index of color - related articles Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Visible_spectrum&oldid=814556520 '' Categories : Color Electromagnetic spectrum Optical spectrum Vision Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Asturianu বাংলা Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Fiji Hindi Français Gàidhlig Galego 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Magyar Монгол Nederlands नेपाल भाषा 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Patois Polski Português Română Русский Scots සිංහල Simple English Slovenščina Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Basa Sunda Suomi Svenska தமிழ் Татарча / tatarça ไทย ᏣᎳᎩ Türkçe Українська اردو Vèneto Tiếng Việt 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 9 December 2017, at 14 : 44. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: the full spectrum includes what range of light visible to humans
Answer: 430–770 THz