Visible spectrum

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Electromagnetic Spectrum

The visible spectrum (or sometimes called the optical spectrum) is the part 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.

Laser beams with visible spectrum

A typical human eye will react to wavelengths in air from about 380 to 750 nm.[1]

The familiar colors of the rainbow in the spectrum include all those colors that can be produced by visible light of a single wavelength only, the pure spectral or monochromatic colors.

But there are no clear boundaries between one color and the next.[2]

Color display spectrum

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
 
Color display spectrum. The narrow red, green and blue bars show the relative mixture of the three primary colors used to produce the color directly above.

Color displays (e.g., computer monitors or televisions) mix red, green, and blue color to approximate the color spectrum. In the illustration, the narrow red, green and blue bars show the relative mixture of these three colors used to produce the color directly above.

Visible Spectrum Media

References

  1. 053446226XCecie Starr (2005). Biology: Concepts and Applications. Thomson Brooks/Cole. ISBN 9780534462239.
  2. Thomas J. Bruno, Paris D. N. Svoronos. CRC Handbook of Fundamental Spectroscopic Correlation Charts. CRC Press, 2005.