The colour purple

[colubridae]

No such colour.
Red and blue in close proximity, but no wavelength corresponds to purple.
But it is a wonderful experience.

[PsychoSerenity]

Must a colour be made from a single wavelength?

[colubridae]

Must a colour be made from a single wavelength?

Depends on your definition of the word colour.

Like "When a tree falls in the forest if there is no-one there does it make a sound?"
depends on your definition of the word sound.

All of the colours in the rainbow are 'represented' by a single wavelength.
But purple alone does not appear in the rainbow. It is generated solely by the mixture of blue and red.

Just as the experience of yellow can be generated by the proximity of red and green. But yellow also has its own wavelength. Purple does not.

"It's still a wonderful experience"

[fishie]

I once brought 2 large coffee mugs
of the most divine and regal purple. The first time I used them to serve a hit beverage to Husband Dearest he was taken with their beauty and exclaimed
"Nice blue mugs!!!"
I smiled gently and giggled to myself,
And ever so gently pointed out what was as clear as day
"They are purple, Husband Dearest, not blue"
" you nuts?" He replied. " they're blue"
" purple!"
"Blue"
And so it began. We would pull the mugs out when we had visitors and adjectives them"purple or blue?"
People stopped visiting. The children refused to even look at the beautiful Purple mugs.
And then one magic day it happened. While I was watching the television box, an advertisement came on for a Magic Machine.
"Looking for just the right shade of paint? Got something in the right color but can't match it? Well bring that thing down to us at the Emporiuom of Paint and we shall use our MAGIC COLOR MAKING machine to provide paint of the exact same shade"
Before you could say "legs on a donkey", I was there, clutching my purple mug.
"Excuse my, dear sir, could you please make paint to match my mug?" I cried piteously.
"Sure Missus! Give it here and my MAGIC COLOR MAKING machine will tell me what tints to use!"
The mug was scanned and I waited nervously. When he was done I had a pot of paint, exactly the same shade of purple.
"Oh wise paint wizard!" Said I, " what shade of purple would you call this paint"
"Nah Missus, it's nae purple, it's blue. See ya got ya C4 and ya K7 and a touch of B9. That's blue that is"
I was a broken women. Saddened and ashsmed I made my way home.
Where I smashed the stupid blue mugs and put them in the bin. And never mentioned them again.



True story

[Hermit]

..and well told, fishie.

No such colour.

Correction: No such spectral colour. Purple does exist as a colour, and it is a real colour despite not appearing in the spectrum of a rainbow. You can see it on robes of priests, monarchs and in paintings. Purple coloured dyes have been around for well over two millennia. To help you resolve your confusion, check this link.

[PsychoSerenity]

Aww, fishie! Such a beautiful yet tragic story.

[fishie]

Aww, fishie! Such a beautiful yet tragic story.

Yes indeed!
I, have seen fire, AND
I've seen rain.

[Azathoth]

violet==purple

[Hermit]

I, have seen fire, AND
I've seen rain.

Undoubtedly. You fired your mugs after they rained on your parade. Taylor-made to fashioned into a song.

[colubridae]

..and well told, fishie.

No such colour.

Correction: No such spectral colour. Purple does exist as a colour, and it is a real colour despite not appearing in the spectrum of a rainbow. You can see it on robes of priests, monarchs and in paintings. Purple coloured dyes have been around for well over two millennia. To help you resolve your confusion, check this link.

Sorry I gave you the impression of being confused, though where you get my ‘confusion’ from I’m not sure.
Let me assure you that I’m not confused.
(BTW It’s considered rude in my culture to call someone confused for no proper reason. OTH if you were trying to be deliberately insulting, feel free to go fuck yourself)

to reiterate:-
If you define colour as an attribute of wavelength, then purple, without a shadow of a doubt, does not exist.
If you define it as the experience felt when neighbouring red and blue cone cells are stimulated but the neighbouring green cone cell is not stimulated then purple certainly exists. This is what the lame definition ‘non-spectral colour’ entails.

Purple dyes are dyes that reflect red and blue wavelengths but absorb green wavelengths. They do not reflect ‘purple’.

Semantic laxity is what my tree analogy was meant to demonstrate. But maybe it was a little too deep. If you wish to indulge in such laxity, be my guest. It is a commonplace thing to do.

What is interesting is that my brain assigns the experience of colour that feels exactly as if it’s a real wavelength (such as yellow) when there is no such wavelength.

[Kristie]

You freaks are all spelling color wrong.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Being the arty-farty type, I find this thread quite interesting.
Now you mention it, I suppose I've always intuitively felt that purple doesn't quite belong in some strange way. - When I look at an example of it (especially larger areas of it), the separate blue and red elements of it are actually fairly obvious to me...like distinct flavours in a recipe.

<snip> But it is a wonderful experience.

I'm not keen on it myself (or, at least, most flavours of it). I find it a bit 'grating' and 'dissonant', for want of better terminology.

[Azathoth]

I defy any of you fuckers to tell me that the left side of that is not cunting purple. You are all talking a load of wank

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I see Wikipedia provides a wavelength for violet (380–450 nm) but not purple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_%28color%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple

[Azathoth]

I see Wikipedia provides a wavelength for violet (380–450 nm) but not purple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_%28color%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple

Straight from the fucking wiki

Violet is a bright bluish purple color