Is it possible for a new color to show up?

Question

Because I know that every color is in the rainbow somewhere & you can get different types of that color by adding others...but wouldn`t it be weird if there was a new color? Could we one day find one?

Answer 1

There aren't any new colors because light as an energy only will be in so many forms. We see them all but 2.

Answer 2

Beyond the rainbow. Although all the answers given above are correct I still think it is possible to perceive a new color someday. Imagine for example stimulating your internal nervous system in some way that is beyond that possible from sensory signals. If you brought full "normal" color perception to a color blind person that would be new colors for that individual. We might also someday add some new neurons for enhanced perception for anyone. Color perception is subjective and a very fasinating subject. Keep thinking.

Answer 3

That's a really interesting question!  I think the answers above me are basically correct--there are no new colors, but our perception of the electromagnetic spectrum is fairly limited.  Having said that, I do remember reading an article in either Science or Nature (two respected scientific journals) about 20 - 25 years ago that had something to do with a way to perceive an "impossible" color like "bluish orange" or something like that.  I'll have to see if I can dig that up somewhere...

Answer 4

Actually, not every color is in the rainbow (and I am talking about human sensory perception, not X-rays or such stuff).  Violet is in the rainbow color spectrum, but not purple.  Purple is percevied by humans when we see bluish and reddish light mixed together, but there is no such thing as a "purple" wavelength of light.

  There won't be any new colors ever discovered, because experts have already studied colors and human perception in great detail.  It would take you a few years to read all of the research, but you can get started by reading about the CIE 1931 color space (where you can see the straight line of "purples" along the bottom of the lobe-shaped diagram):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_co...

and the Munsell color system:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsell

Is this good news or bad news?

Answer 5

I wear black until they invent a darker color.

Answer 6

people don't always see the same color in the same way.  i think its posible.  when you were a little kid growing up you saw new colors all the time.  remember when you got your first big box of crayons?  it is something that could happen.

Answer 7

Well, color relates to our interpetation of the wavelength and intensity of light.

There are many more "colors" on either side of the light spectrum (rainbow) but our eyes do not have the range to pick them up.

We can pick them up with instruments, and some animals see different colors that arent visible to us, like bees who see ultraviolet markings on flowers.  

Here are some colors outside of the visible spectrum of light.

gamma ray, x-ray, ultraviolet, microwave,  radio waves

Just something to think about.

Answer 8

Outside of the Earth Plane there are thousands of new colours.We can only see the range of colours that applies to the light and atmosphereof our world, but somewhere out there there are planets and stars alive with their colour. I sometimes wonder how we will recognise them,if we don't know what to look for?

Answer 9

For there to be another color; there would need to be a change in the light spectrum, and somethinng that would reflect that color light.

We do not see the colors in the light. we see the colors only in reflected light.

When light hits paper; the color white is reflected to us, when light hits a cardinal, the color red is reflected, etc.

Answer 10

or how about colors and sounds that exist outside the limits of human sensory capacity.

Answer 11

Hi Marisa,  I do believe it's possible BUT I don't believe the color would just "show up."  

I think certain people would become able to see the color.

Like some folks can see auras.  I personally knew a woman, a total skeptic btw, who took a business trip to Ireland and she could see a strange faint outline of colored light around people!  She had her eyes checked, thought it might have been some sort of damage, the airplane flight, whatever.  But... no damage.  Her vision was absolutley fine.  When she got back to the states... no auras.

So... let me know if you see a new color!  Let's all be on the look out.  Good luck!

Answer 12

There are 3 receptors in the eye that respond to different wavelengths.Color is perceived in the retina by three sets of cones which are photoreceptors with sensitivity to photons whose energy broadly overlaps the blue, green and red portions of the spectrum. Color vision is possible because the sets of cones differ from each other in their sensitivity to photon energy. The sensitivity of the cones to light of the same intensity (the same photon flux) but different wavelengths (energy)For every color signal or flux of photons reaching the eye, some ratio of response within the three types of cones is triggered. It is this ratio that permits the perception of a particular color.We're able to see a huge variety of objects all around us, and we often think that if we don't see something, it's not there.Light is only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum,thinking of light, as a particle of energy (a photon), or a wave carrying energy, is correct . Most of the electromagnetic spectrum is not accessible to us, unless we're aided by special detectors tuned to the desired energies, much like our eyes are "tuned" to the energy of visible light..( gamma rays,X-rays,ultraviolet (UV),infrared,

Microwaves, UHF& VHF;these are some examples)

if you have another receptor in your eye,yes it would be possible for another endless color expression to show up,

but since you have only 3 it is not