<\/p>
Light consists of electromagnetic waves, and colour depends on the wavelength. If colours were simply a naming scheme for wavelengths then pink is not one, because it is made up of more than one wavelength (it\u2019s actually a mix of red and purple light).\u00a0If you took a laser and tuned it across the visible wavelengths, from infrared through to ultraviolet, you would not pass pink on the way.<\/p>\n
However, colours are not simply names for wavelengths \u2013 colours merely label our perception of light, once it has passed through our eyes.<\/p>\n
Our eyes contain sensors favouring red, green and blue, the signals from which are remixed in our brain. Our brains and eyes are smart enough to reliably pick out the mix of wavelengths we call pink, and give it all kinds of cultural associations. Considering all of this, it can be easily argued pink is a real colour.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Asked by: Tim Ellam, Bath<\/strong><\/p>\n To submit your questions email us at questions@sciencefocus.com (don\u2019t forget to include your name and location)<\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Prof Jon Butterworth Published: Thursday, 11 November 2021 at 12:00 am Light consists of electromagnetic waves, and colour depends on the wavelength. If colours were simply a naming scheme for wavelengths then pink is not one, because it is made up of more than one wavelength (it\u2019s actually a mix of red and purple […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":276,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour.jpg",1200,536,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour-300x134.jpg",300,134,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour-768x343.jpg",768,343,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour-1024x457.jpg",800,357,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour.jpg",1200,536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2021\/11\/is-pink-a-real-colour.jpg",1200,536,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Prof Jon Butterworth Published: Thursday, 11 November 2021 at 12:00 am Light consists of electromagnetic waves, and colour depends on the wavelength. If colours were simply a naming scheme for wavelengths then pink is not one, because it is made up of more than one wavelength (it\u2019s actually a mix of red and purple…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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