Wednesday, June 06, 2007

A Pea in the Sky

I figured out a strange thing about green. There are red stars, orange stars, yellow stars, white stars, and blue ones. A graph showing how much light is emitted at each frequency/color explains the variety. The temperature determines the peak frequency/color. Cooler stars have their brightness peak in the red, hotter ones in orange and yellow, and very hot ones in blue. Our sun is brightest in green. Our eyes and brains have evolved to see a mix of colors dominated by green as white. But it is actually mainly green light.

Plants use light to produce food and to grow. The more light they gather the better they can compete and flourish. Which is why they are green - because the sun is brightest in green. The true color of the sun is the color of the leaves outside your window.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:00 PM

    Jack Jack Jack...What are you saying? Go outside, look at the sun. Ask the people around you, they will tell you the sun is yellow or white or whatever, but no one will tell you the sun is green because it isn't. Regardless of facts in a book.

    So remember, as you go through life, there are some things that are certain. Hitler is and always will be a bad guy, shit stinks, and the sun will rise bright and yellow as always. No matter what you read.

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  2. Anonymous9:48 PM

    JK, you definitely have too much time on your hands.

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  3. Anonymous2:08 AM

    Actually, you're partly right. The sun's continuous spectrum shines at a temperature of 5800 degrees Kelvin, which corresponds to yellow-green. However, due to atmosphereic absorption, at earth's surface the predominant color we see is yellow-white, which is why human eyesight is most sensitive to yellow light.

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  4. ND, I am partly right? I blush from the praise.

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