Why does RED mean STOP?

Question

Why does RED mean STOP?

Answer 1

because it's a bright and strong color that's telling you to do something

Answer 2

Red is the universal color for stop because it was determined that red is the color that most catches peoples attention.

If you walk into a room full of people, your eye is usually caught initially by the person wearing red.

Red also means "danger".  It's used on containers that are used to dispose of used syringes and other items deemed to be not safe.

Answer 3

Because red is a really noticeable color and so its better for a sign like that so you will pay attention because if it was green it wouldnt stand out

Answer 4

because green means go

Answer 5

Because it is a cutomary and societal norm in the United States that red means STOP!! Red is a symbolic representation of STOP!

It has nothing to do with the color red people. We could have assinged the color blue to be stop and thats what it would not be!

Answer 6

Because something has to mean "stop", and something has to mean "go". I don't know who decided what color would mean what action. But it doesn't really matter, does it?

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Have a nice day!☺

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Answer 7

i wouldn't know exactly why, but i do know that the color is psychologically screaming at us. so they use those signs for the very important stuff. its just how your mind reacts to different colors. like blue and purple and even dark green are soothing.

Answer 8

because it catches ur eyes and it kinda means like warning, dont do that

Answer 9

because that is the color of stop signs

Answer 10

That's a good question. Every time I see red I just wanna go.

When I see green I just want to stay where I am and relax.

Go figure.

Answer 11

The color Red is bright and not too bright for ppl to see. =]

Answer 12

Red in Nature has always been the color of Danger or Alarm,

It is the color of Blood

In War red is used by many armies as part of the battle colors

It is the color of violence as well.

Society has adopted that in their warning signs

Answer 13

because red means danger

Answer 14

I think the major reason has to do with how light gets absorbed in fog, particulates, haze, etc. We know that light is scattered (and thus attenuates or gets weaker) as it

travels through a scattering medium composed of small particles. As it turns out, red light is scattered (is weakened) less than other colors.  In fact, of the light spectrum, blue is scattered the most and red the least.  

Lord Rayleigh was the first to discover that small particles in air scatter different light colors with different effectiveness;  this effectiveness being proportional to the inverse of the wavelength to the power 4.  Blue light which has the shortest wavelength is scattered the most and red, having the longest wavelength, the least.  As such, at sunset, when the sun

rays travel the longest distance, more of the red part of the Sun's spectrum reaches us.  The other colors do not make it as well because they have been mostly scattered out along the way.  The same explanation goes for the color of the sky. Away from the sun, we do not see the direct sunlight but the scattered light.  Small air molecules scatter blue light

more efficiently out of the direct sun rays, and that is what we

see.  Thus, the sky appears blue.

In summary, red light weakens the least in traveling in the air.  That is why stop signs and other critical lights are red.

There are some other reasons for using red light.  One is perception and the other is effect of aging on our perception of colors. Red (and yellow) colors, even as we age.  Our retina is covered with light sensitive receptors known as cones (mostly in the center of retina and responsible for color sensing) and rods (mostly on the edge of retina and

responsible for perceiving shades, night vision, movement, but not color).  There are three types of cones, each sensitive to one of three colors of red, blue, or green.  I think that in the central part of the retina where we get sharpest images we have more of the cones that are collectively more sensitive to yellow and then red colors.

Alvin

Answer 15

cause your brain associates it with caution. colors like green are soothing and mellow.

Answer 16

b/c its a bright vibrant color and they need to get ur attention so u do stop and not cause an accident.

Answer 17

My guess? Blood is red. If you see a lot of it, you'd best stop and figure out why it's there.

--Caveman thinking

Answer 18

It also means stop in Australia. Stop signs, traffic lights, give way signs have red, ambulance/firetruck/police cars. I think they do it for the benefit of tourists from overseas, making it semi-universal.

Answer 19

Because that is 1 word we associate with that color. Red grabs your attention so why not put words with a red background to draw your attention like stop.

Answer 20

red was chosen by a color blind Irishman, he wanted to confuse himself