-
Asked by yjzhou to Ben, Clare, Ezzy, Mario, Sam on 11 Mar 2012. This question was also asked by smithmoorebell, morrisdougal.
-
Mario Campanelli answered on 9 Mar 2012:
in our retina there are sensors sensible to the different colours (which are different wavelengths of visible light), so if one gets more signal than another, our brain interprets it as coming from a coloured object
-
-
Clare Burrage answered on 11 Mar 2012:
Different colours mean that the light has different energies (or wavelengths). The colours we can see are the wavelengths of light that can pass through water, this is Because the human eye is mostly made up of water. Other wavelengths of light are absorbed by water.
Being able to see colours will have helped our ancestors to find food and shelter, and to spot predators, and so they would have been more likely to survive. So evolution led to us being able to see colours today. -
Elizabeth Pearson answered on 11 Mar 2012:
They guys above me did a pretty good job on the how so I’m going to take more on the why.
There’s a whole spectrum of ‘colours’ many of which we can’t see. UV, X-ray, infrared. So why is the visible what we see? Because we’ve evolved that way. The light that we see happens to be what our sun puts out the most brightly, so it’s what our eyes evolved to pick up. Other animals can see more or less of the spectrum than we can, depending on their needs.
Being able to see in colour also has evolutionary advantages. Things that are poisonous tend to be brightly coloured as a warning, so it helps to be able to see them. It helps us see things more clearly. Big scary things with claws that want to each your face generally.
There’s also some evidence to suggest that we don’t necessarily all see colour the same. People who live in the jungle can tell different greens apart much better than someone in the city, but not so good on reds. It’s always something that has intrigued me. Do we all see and hear things the same, and is there anyway we’d ever know if not?
Comments