Get Learnt 4

The human eye can see 7,000,000 different colors, but what exactly IS color?

I'm sure the average person will say that color comes from light refracting into our eyes, and that's more or less true, but there's WAY more to it than that. Color comes in a spectrum of wavelengths that an object either reflects or absorbs. When reflected, your eyes determine the object as having color through special cone cells in your retina.

So if color is simply the perception of wavelengths, do objects REALLY have color? Is color even real? If color is based on my observation, does that mean objects I don't see remain colorless until I see them? And what the fuck does "colorless" even mean at this point?

Let's take a look at how your eyes work, how color is determined, and how other animals experience color.

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This is your eyeball, It contains both rod cells and cone cells.

Rod cells are found around the outer area of the retina and are used for peripheral vision. With around 90,000,000 of them, they are almost entirely responsible for night vision but play no part in color detection. Because of this they are more sensitive to light than cone cells.

Cone cells are found concentrated most within the macula, averaging around 5,000,000 in count. Designed to function in bright light, these are the cells responsible for seeing color.

And like kids on a short bus, colors come in a spectrum.

There are 3 types of cone cells: Short, Medium, and Long. Each cone type refers to the wavelengths it predominately reacts to. Looking above, you can see an example of color wavelengths on the top and below is a graph showing the cone types and the color spectrum they cover. Short is "blue", Medium is "green", and Long is "red" (RGB) or trichromatic color vision. This doesn't mean that the cones can only receive that one color, just that they're most sensitive to those wavelengths.

When you see an object as being "red", you're absorbing longer wavelengths of light into the Long cone cells of your eyes while your Short and Medium cones absorb nothing/very little amounts. Our visual color spectrum is determined by the wavelengths of light we take in and how our cone cells work together. The 2 unique "colors" in our visual spectrum are black, created when a surface absorbs all wavelengths and reflects nothing, and white, when all wavelengths are reflected and nothing's absorbed.

So if this is HOW you see color, WHY do you see color?

It all depends on what wavelengths a surface reflects.

This is determined by the arrangement of electrons in the atoms of that surface. At this point, the electrons either absorb or reflect photons of different energies. Depending on the combination of energies reflected, our cone cells detect specific color. So the objects we see aren't ACTUALLY the color we see them as, the electrons that surround their atoms simply reflect and absorb specific amounts of different wavelengths. So I guess color isn't real... wait...

Hold up, if color isn't real then... what do objects actually look like?

What is NO color?

I bet you're imagining everything gray, or black and white.

Stop that.

Stop. That. Shit.

You can't imagine it. It's like trying to imagine 4-Dimensional time-space or a good DC movie. It's fucking impossible and Zack Snyder knows it.

But while you can't see "no color", there are some people who seem to be blind to it.

Colorblindness is caused mostly by the inheritance of genes on the X chromosome. Because of this, males are more likely to be colorblind than females. Having no cure, there are 4 major types of colorblindness:

• Deuteranomaly:

Red-Green The most common form, 8% of males and 0.4% of females are affected. A mutation within the green color cone causes weak reception of the color green and makes it hard to distinguish between hues of orange, yellow, and green. However, this is the form of colorblindness that benefits from chromatic glasses.

• Protanopia

Red-Green Affecting 1% of males, this is caused by a mutation in the Long red cones. This prevents them from distinguishing between hues of yellow, green, and red.

• Tritanopia

Blue-Yellow One of the rarest forms of colorblindness, affecting less than 1% of both men and women, this prevents distinguishing between green and blue hues, as well as yellow and red ones. Darker greens and blues appear black, and yellows appear pink.

• Complete Colorblindness

All Color Hues Monochromacy occurs in 2 forms: Cone Monochromacy - The eye develops just a single type of cone that prevents seeing hues Rod Monochromacy - No cones develop and only rods are present

Now that we've talked about LESS color, let's take a look at MORE color.

Tetrachromacy is a condition where the eye contains 4 different cones for conveying color instead of 3. The addition of this 4th cone enables the ability to detect ultraviolet light. Some species of birds and insects posses this trait to help them forage and mate by allowing them to detect a wider range of colors that stand out.

Though considered rare, humans are also able to be born with a 4th cone.

While research points towards this being caused by a special gene within the X chromosome, it's found that women are the primary developers of tetrachromacy. Studies vary widely in range, some saying as little as 2-3% of women possess the 4th cone while others show ~50% of women and 8% of men possess a more acute sense of color than the average 3 cone individual.

Another factor preventing normal people from seeing UV light is the presence of the lens. The lens in your eye blocks most light found within that spectrum, however, some individuals without lenses report detecting ultraviolet light as either a whitish-blue or whitish-violet color.

But as cool as this all is, even with 4 cones in your eye, you're colorblind compared to the world's leading color detector.

The NAACP
I mean mantis shrimp.

This little chromatard laughs at our puny 3 cone eyes. Why?

Because he has 12.

Scientists have known for a while that the mantis shrimp has 12 color receptors, but we literally have no clue why. There is NO REASON why they need 12. I can't even begin to fathom the depths of this asshole's color detection. They also have extraordinary detection of the polarization of light, giving them good vision in general. This guy's eyesight is so top shit, he can look through a 10 foot lead wall 100 years into the fucking future and see why Carmen Sandiego loves cinnamon toast crunch.

Jokes on him, though.

Color isn't real.

Hope you found this interesting!

Through blackest day,
And blackest night. 
I'll post some science,
'Cause this shit's tight.
Make your day?
Well bitch I might.
The time is nigh, 
Get Learnt tonight!

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