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Spectral color
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== Spectral color terms == The spectrum is often divided into ''[[color term]]s'' or names, but aligning boundaries between color terms to a specific wavelength is very subjective. The first person to decompose white light and name the spectral colors was [[Isaac Newton]], in the 1660s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Newton and the Science of Color |url=https://www.thecolumbiasciencereview.com/blog/newton-and-the-science-of-color |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=Columbia Science Review |language=en}}</ref> Early in the study of radiometry, Newton was not able to measure the wavelength of the light, but his experiments were repeated contemporarily to estimate wavelengths where his color term boundaries probably lay.<ref name=mclaren/> [[Isaac Newton|Newton's]] color terms included red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet; this color sequence is still used to describe spectral colors colloquially and a [[mnemonic]] for it is commonly known as "[[Roy G. Biv]]". In modern divisions of the spectrum, [[Indigo#Isaac Newton's classification of indigo as a spectral color|indigo is often omitted]] and a [[blue-green]] color is sometimes included. Some have argued that Newton's indigo would be equivalent to our modern blue, and his blue equivalent to our blue-green. However, his nonintuitive choices can be better explained. In the table below, note how wavelength is not proportional to hue (which is approximately perceptually uniform). Color systems such as [[ISCC-NBS]] attempt to divide the spectrum into sections that appear perceptually uniform. On the other hand, Newton's sections are approximately uniform in size as they would have physically appeared in the diffracted spectrum, i.e. each about 40nm "wide". In this theory, the sections were divided without influence of his own perception, and each section was then given a name that best suited its ''average'' color. In contrast, the sections in the [[ISCC-NBS]] spectrum vary greatly in wavelength range, but are more consistent in the [[hue]] degree range. Both instances deviate from the [[color term#Basic color terms|basic color terms]] used in English, only some of which are spectral colors. The table below includes several definitions where the spectral colors have been categorized in [[color term]]s. The [[hue]] that a given monochromatic light evokes is approximated at the right side of the table. {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+Spectral color classifications !scope="col"|[[wavelength|nm]] !scope="col"|[[Isaac Newton|Newton]][[#×|<span style="color:black" title="Quantified by McLaren">*</span>]]<ref name=mclaren>{{cite journal |last1=McLaren |first1=K. |title=Newton's indigo |journal=Color Research & Application |date=1985 |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=225–229 |doi=10.1002/col.5080100411}}</ref> !scope="col"|[[ISCC-NBS]][[#×|<span style="color:black" title="Quantified by Kelly">*</span>]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=Kenneth L. |title=Color Designations for Lights |journal=Journal of the Optical Society of America |date=1 November 1943 |volume=33 |issue=11 |pages=627 |doi=10.1364/JOSA.33.000627}}</ref> !scope="col"|Malacara<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malacara |first1=Daniel |title=Color vision and colorimetry : theory and applications |date=2011 |publisher=SPIE |location=Bellingham, Wash. |isbn=9780819483973 |edition=2nd}}</ref> !scope="col"|[[CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics|CRC Handbook]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bruno |first1=Thomas J. |title=CRC handbook of fundamental spectroscopic correlation charts |date=2006 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton, FL |isbn=9780849332500}}</ref> !scope="col"|[[Hue]][[#×|<span style="color:black" title="approximated hue degree of HSL space">*</span>]] |- |380 | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#7F00FF" |'''Violet''' | rowspan="6" bgcolor="#7F00FF" |'''Violet''' | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#7F00FF" |'''Violet''' | rowspan="7" bgcolor="#7F00FF" |'''Violet''' |250° |- |390 |250° |- |400 |250° |- |410 |249° |- |420 |249° |- |430 | rowspan="2" bgcolor="#3F00FF |'''Indigo''' | rowspan="7" bgcolor="#0000FF" |'''Blue''' |249° |- |440 | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#0000FF" |'''Blue''' |247° |- |450 | rowspan="4" bgcolor="#1DA2DF" |'''Blue''' | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#0000FF" |'''Blue''' |245° |- |460 |242° |- |470 |238° |- |480 |226° |- |490 | rowspan="4" bgcolor="#00FF00" |'''Green''' | rowspan="1" bgcolor="#00FFFF" |'''Blue-Green''' |190° |- |500 | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#00FF00" |'''Green''' | rowspan="2" bgcolor="#00FFFF" |'''Cyan''' | rowspan="7" bgcolor="#00FF00" |'''Green''' |143° |- |510 |126° |- |520 | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#00FF00" |'''Green''' |122° |- |530 | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#FFFF00"|'''Yellow''' |117° |- |540 |113° |- |550 | rowspan="3" bgcolor="#88FF00" |'''Yellow-Green''' |104° |- |560 |93° |- |570 | rowspan="1" bgcolor="#FFFF00" |'''Yellow''' | rowspan="2" bgcolor="#FFFF00" |'''Yellow''' |62° |- |580 | rowspan="4" bgcolor="#FF8800" |'''Orange''' | rowspan="1" bgcolor="#FFFF00" |'''Yellow''' | rowspan="5" bgcolor="#FF8800" |'''Orange''' |28° |- |590 | rowspan="2" bgcolor="#FF8800" |'''Orange''' | rowspan="3" bgcolor="#FF8800" |'''Orange''' |14° |- |600 |7° |- |610 | rowspan="13" bgcolor="#FF0000" |'''Red''' |5° |- |620 | rowspan="8" bgcolor="#FF0000" |'''Red''' | rowspan="13" bgcolor="#FF0000" |'''Red''' |3° |- |630 | rowspan="11" bgcolor="#FF0000" |'''Red''' |2° |- |640 |1° |- |650 |1° |- |660 |1° |- |670 |0° |- |680 |0° |- |690 |0° |- |700 | rowspan="6" bgcolor="#000000" | |0° |- |710 |0° |- |720 |0° |- |730 |0° |- |740 | rowspan="2" bgcolor="#000000" | | rowspan="2" bgcolor="#000000" | |0° |- |750 | rowspan="1" bgcolor="#000000" | | |}
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