Scientists have revealed the mind-blowing reason why purple is not actually a real color.
It’s also not a color that is part of the rainbow because, believe it or not, it turns out that violet isn’t the same as purple.
This is because violet has its own wavelength of light while purple doesn’t.
Most people are familiar with the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light, which is why we need to wear sunscreen when spending time outside in the sun.
Advert
And all of the other colors of the rainbow have their own wavelengths too.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo but not purple.
Instead, purple is what you see when red and blue wavelengths are spotted in the same place and clashes.
This means that purple doesn’t actually exist, it’s just red and blue together and that plays a trick with our eyes.
A lot of people were shocked to find out this information on social media, with many taking to Reddit to share their reactions.
One user wrote: “Our eyes perceive different wavelengths of light as different colors, but that doesn't mean every color we perceive has its own wavelength. There's no single wavelength of light that you can create to shine ‘pure purple light’; rather, we perceive purple when our eyes sense both red and blue light.”
Another said: “Purple is often used to mean a mix of red and blue light, so it's not something you can find in the rainbow. If you think that only colors in the rainbow (spectral colors) are real colors, then purple isn't a real color.”
This user added: “But really, violet is basically purple as far as anyone cares in everyday conversation, so the statement isn't really true to begin with.”
And a third person commented: “More than that, there's a whole bunch of other colors that are non-spectral. They just happen to be similar enough to spectral colors that people call them by the same name. You aren't going to be able to find a single wavelength of light that is ‘seafoam green’ or ‘burnt umber’.”
While purple is a color made from red and blue, there are a variety of other colors that extend beyond.
According to the European Space Agency, it said: “We see our world in a huge variety of color. However, there are other ‘colors’ that our eyes can't see, beyond red and violet, they are: infrared and ultraviolet. Comparing these pictures, taken in these three ‘types of light’, the rainbow appears to extend far beyond the visible light.”