LydiaandTrudy

Title

FrequenciesChangingColorinLight

Abstract

Themotivationforthisexperiment,wastounderstandexactlyhowthehumaninterpretsand
perceivescolordependingondifferentfrequencies.Thequestionthatweareinvestigatingis
Howdofrequenciespresentinthelightdeterminethewayweseecolor?
Togetthisquestion,
wehadtodoresearchandunderstandexactlywhatfrequenciesandwavelengthsincolor
mean,andwhichcolorshaveacertainfrequency.Whenstartingtheexperiment,wehadagood
ideaofwhattheresultswouldbe,weassumedthatthecolorswithhigherfrequencieswouldbe
easiertoseeandidentify,thisturnedouttobetrue.Whatwediscoveredintheexperimentwas
thatviolet,thecolorwiththelowestfrequencyinthevisiblespectrumwasthemostdifficultto
identifyforourtestsubjects.Nearlyallofthemsaidthatthecolortheyhadthemosttrouble
seeingwasviolet.Overall,thisexperimentshowedushowthehumaneyeperceivescolors
dependingondifferentfrequencies.

Introduction

Thepurposeofthisexperimentistounderstandhowfrequenciesdeterminethewaywesee
colorinlight.Frequencyistherateatwhichsomethingoccurs,inthiscase,thelightwaves.In
thearticle
VisibleLightandtheEye'sResponse
theygooverhowthehumaneyeisonly
capableofseeingthevisiblespectrum,andonlyasmallrangeoffrequencies.Thehumaneye
cancurrentlyonlyseebetween400nm750nmbecauseapparentlythehumaneyedeveloped
inwater,whichresultedinthenarrowspectrumofvision.Thevisiblespectrumincludesthe
colorsred,orange,yellow,green,blue,andviolet.
ThePhysics
Hypertextbook
explainsthatlightcanbeproducedintwodifferentways,through
incandescence,whichiscreatedfromhotmatter,and
luminescencewhichtakesplacewhenexcitedelectronsfallto
lowerenergylevels.Differentfrequencieswillchangethe
colorsperceivedbythehumaneyebecauseofdiffering
wavelengthspresent.Thecolorsweseearethereflectionof
differentwavelengths.Lightandcolorarecompletely
independentintermsofthehumanbrain,butweassociate
themtogether,becausetheyaffecttheoutcomeofeachother.

QuestionandHypothesis

Howdofrequenciespresentinthelightdeterminethewayweseecolor?

Ifthefrequenciesinlightaffectthecoloroflightthanhumanswillseedifferentcolorsbecauseof
thevaryingfrequencies.

Methods&Materials

Materials:
ColorMixingKit/LightBulb
DarkRoom
Whitesurfacetoprojectlighton
5TestSubjects
ColorBlindTest

Toreplicatethisexperiment,youwillneedlightbulbscontainingthefollowingcolors,red,
orange,yellow,green,blue,andviolet.5testsubjectswillbeneeded,allneedtohavethe
abilitytoseecolor.Haveeachtestsubjecttakeacolorblindtestbeforestarting.Beforethe
experiment,youshouldknowhowmanyfrequencieseachcolorhas,forexamplethecolorred
has
719.86nanometers.
Whenstartingtheexperiment,acompletelydarkroomisnecessary,
eliminatingalloutsidelightsourcesthatcouldchangevariables.Setupthelightorlightssothat
thepersonwillonlyseeonecoloratatime.Tellthesubjectwhatamountoffrequenciesthatare
beingprojected,butdonttellthemthecolortheyshouldsee.Askthemwhatcolortheysee,and
recordresults,dothisforeachcolor.Foreachtestsubject,askwhatcolorwastheeasiestto
identify,andthehardesttoidentify.Recordresults.

Results

Aftertheexperiment,wefoundthecolorsred,green,andblueweretheeasiesttoidentify.We
knowthatredistheeasiesttoseebecauseithasthehighestleveloffrequencies.Thecolor
thatnearlyalltestsubjectshadthemosttroubleseeingwasviolet,duetothiscolorhavingthe
lowestleveloffrequencies.Oneofourtestsubjectsidentifiedorangeasbeingthemostdifficult
colortosee,thiscouldbedotoaslightdifferenceinthecolorshadethatweshowedtoothers.
Theeasiestcolorstoseeaccordingtoourexperimentwasredandgreen,withonetestwho
sawblue.Oneobservationsthatwenoticedwasthatthecolorshadeneedstobeconsistentif
weweretogetcompletelyaccuratedatathroughouttheexperiment.

Discussion

Thepurposeoftheexperimentwastobetterunderstandhowfrequenciesincoloraffecthowthe
humaneyeperceivescolorinlight.Ourhypothesisstatedthatchangingfrequencieswould
resultindifferentcolorsseenbythehumaneye.Thisprovedtoberightinourresults.The
easiestidentifiedcolorswereredandgreenbecauseofthehigherlevelsoffrequenciesinthe
visiblespectrum.Thehardestcolortoidentifywasviolet,duetothelowestfrequenciespresent
withinthevisiblespectrum.Weknewthatourhypothesiswascorrect,becauseourdatawas
fairlyconsistconcerningthecolorsthatpeoplesaw.Ourdatamaynothavebeencompletely
accurateattimes,seeingaswewereusingacolormixer,resultingindifferentshadesof
orange,yellow,andviolet.Thereforethesethreecolorsdidnothaveconsistentresults,thetest
subjectsdidntalwaysseetheexactsamecolors.Weknowthesubjectshadtheabilityto
identifyaccuratecolor,becausewehadthemtakeatestbeforehanddeterminingthatthey
werentcolorblind.Tocontinuethisexperiment,wecouldhaveusedmoreaccuratelightsthat
hadaconsistentshadesowewouldhaveaccurateresults.Anotherwaywecouldhave
improvedthiswastolookfartherintochangingthefrequenciesourselves,sowecouldidentify
whatthehighestandlowestfrequenciesthehumaneyecouldsee.

Bibliography

"LightWavesandColor."
LightWavesandColor
.N.p.,n.d.Web.10May2016."TheNatureof
Light."

ThePhysicsHypertextbook
.N.p.,n.d.Web.10May2016.