If light isn't white, then what is it?

As far as i kno, the most commone WHITE light is produced by the sun. Common household light bulbs dont create white light. So What color is "normal" light? and how does it make our eyes see things?

All light is "translated" by our own brains. Not sure how blind people interprets light or the colour white.

Tricky question you are asking

I think your just screwing around with word play?

there is only 1 type of light, and its radiation. its only white to us because we can only see a sliver of the entire wavelength spectrum.

before we get to normal light...what is dark light?

need to determine both ends before you can define the median no?

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everything is wavelengths, radiation....radio waves...colour's...light...we can only see the waves...that we can see.

i think its weird thinking that something out there can physically see radiowaves. its highly possible.

bee's can see further into the purple end of the spectrum, UV radiation.

while snakes can see further into the red end of the spectrum, Infrared radiation.

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the only difference between pure white light, and artificial light is the colour spectrum, which colours are being masked by artifical light, alot of artificial lights are orange ish, which means they are blocking out alot of the blue / purple in the visible spectrum

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i just dont understand the question so im rambling


[edit on 10-4-2009 by epitaph.one]

reply to post by AntiConspirator


Ok there is no such thing as white light.I think your asking about the visible spectrum,but this is only a small spectrum of light. Theres a lot we dont see which is why we invented infra red cameras foe example. Now a science lesson in why we see colors:

Objects reflect light depending on there color visable light is broken down into colors red,orange,yellow.green,blue.indigo and violet. Every color you see is simply the other colors not being reflected back to you. Interestinglt black is not a color black is no light being reflected back to you. So if something is black its absorbing visable light colors and your brain interprets it as black.

Originally posted by AntiConspirator
As far as i kno, the most commone WHITE light is produced by the sun. Common household light bulbs dont create white light. So What color is "normal" light? and how does it make our eyes see things?

I would imagine that the sun is emitting the full spectrum of electromagnetic radiation , whilst a light bulb just emits the visible light spectrum .
White light is the combination of all the frequencies within the visible light spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.

Its still blows my mind to think that , for example a blue coloured object has absorbed all of the other (visible)* frequencies of energy and reflects that particular frequency to our eyes, which our minds labels blue .

edit to add*
epitaph.one

[edit on 10-4-2009 by UmbraSumus]

"Its still blows my mind to think that , for example a blue coloured object has absorbed all of the other frequencies of energy and reflects that particular frequency to our eyes, which our minds labels blue ."

not all frequencies, it could still be reflecting UV and Infrared, and radiowaves etc etc, we just dont happen to see them...regardless.

reply to post by epitaph.one


Awesome, and intelligent, answer epitaph.one. It's actually a very interesting subject to ponder. Gave you a star for this one.

reply to post by AntiConspirator

If light isn't white, then what is it?

Because I am even more bored than you are ( I guarantee ... ) I will elucidate the matter for anybody who cares, with special emphasis on that which is to be rejected and that which is to be accepted ... whatever ...

First, we have -

Solar Irradiance Calculation

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2b3d46969911.jpg[/atsimg]
Source : Wikipedia

This equation should never be trusted ! Avoid its use at all costs !

In fact, I am quite shocked Wikipedia would even have this on their page. The whole notion is absolutely ridiculous !! I'm sure it's only accidental ...

And one more thing - the mere fact that they mention the 'extinction coefficient' raises the hairs on the back of my neck and just reminds me of what a bunch of 'sick puppies' they really are ...

Next we have another chart of the Sun's 'power spectrum' from almost 20-years ago -

Solar Irradiance Spectrum, 1992

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/702e7db7daa9.gif[/atsimg]
Source : Wikipedia

It's totally out of date and should be completely ignored.

Next,

Solar Spectrum

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d598b54a4eb4.png[/atsimg]
Source : Wikipedia

Here we can see that the Sun ( Old Sol ) is putting out quite a bit of 'radiation,' only a small 'slice' of which is 'visible.'

If anything, this chart should convince you to never forget your sunscreen !!.

Finally we have -

Prism and Light

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5af29f311db5.jpg[/atsimg]
Source : Wikipedia

Which shows that 'visible white light' is 'really' made up of 'lots of other things.' Those 'other things' which are 'detectible' by our 'eye organs' happen to be the 'five colors.'

Anyway, hopefully there are no longer any doubts remaining about this solar 'white light.'

nvm

[edit on 10-4-2009 by ghaleon12]

White is a specific color perception of light.

Light is a form of cosmic energy perceived as the opposite of dark

Sun Light:

The sun is an energy resonator. It generates waves of energy particles called Photons.

The Photons manifest the visual perception of reality when they resonate to human photon receptors (eyes & brain)

Artificial Light:

The color of light is determined by it color temperature. Good ole noon time daylight is about 6500 degrees Kelvin. Indoor incandescent light is about 3200 Kelvin. Indoor incandescent 3200 K light will appear yellowish, fluorescent and LED light will be closer to 5600 K and will appear blueish

The color of objects illuminated by an artificial source(non-sun) are further influenced by color index.

Color index is based on how closely the artificial light source can reproduce the full spectrum of the sun's light. When the light source does not contain the full visible spectrum of sun light the color of the objects it reflects will be different than the same object in full spectrum sun light

White light is every frequency in the visible light spectrum, combined - RGB -.

It isn't actually white light, but the color registered by the brain when RGB light frequency hits the photoreceptors - Cone Cells -.

IMO, the best explanation is 'colour is a human perception', light is light.

As many people on here have said, we see a miniscule amount of the radiation that is actually reflected, we percieve what we sense, we don't sense that much.

From what I remember, a blue object isn't ONLY reflecting the 'blue', it is just reflecting more of it, same for the others.

Put's into perspective what you actually see when observing 'reality'.

EMM