3.3.21

Colour

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Colours

At the start of the 1660s, Isaac Newton pioneered experiments into light and colour.

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Colours

  • We see colour because of light receptors in our eye.
  • Colour is just different frequencies of light.
  • We can remember the spectrum of colours by the mnemonic Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet).
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Colours

  • Red has the lowest frequency and the colours are in order of frequency - with violet having the highest frequency.
  • Colour are part of the visible light spectrum. These are transverse waves.
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Dispersion

  • Light looks white because it is a mixture of all the colours.
  • We can separate white light into the colours using a prism.
  • White light refracting into colours is called dispersion.
  • Isaac Newton discovered this in 1666.
    • It was around this time that he stuck a needle in his eye to continue his investigations into colour and light.

Jump to other topics

1Biology

1.1Cells, Tissues & Organs

1.2Reproduction & Variation

1.3Ecological Relationships & Classification

1.4Digestion & Nutrition

1.5Plants & Photosynthesis

1.6Biological Systems & Processes

2Chemistry

2.1Particles

2.2Chemical Reactions

2.3Atoms, Elements, Compounds

2.4The Periodic Table

2.5Materials & the Earth

2.6Reactivity

2.7Energetics

2.8Properties of Materials

3Physics

3.1Energy

3.2Forces & Motion

3.3Waves

3.4Electricity & Magnetism

3.5Matter

3.6Space Physics

4Thinking Scientifically

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