• blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    I wonder if there are some metals that appear grey to us but actually have a color, we just don’t see it because it’s outside our visible spectrum

    • Dicska@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      That is the very definition of colour. The part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see. The rest of the scale includes infrared, gamma or X-ray. If you want, you can call them invisible colours - or you can call green superhighultraviolet.

      • scratchee@feddit.uk
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        1 month ago

        In everyday context yes, but it’s pretty common to use “colour” to refer to frequency outside the visible range, and it’s interesting to consider what interesting “colours” we are missing out on because they’re outside our visible range.

        Silver/grey implies even response across the spectrum, and is the normal expectation.

        If we couldn’t see yellow (red/green) then gold would presumably look silver to us, so are there silver/grey metals that would have an interesting colour if only we could see it?

      • blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        If a bee sees a color we cannot, it would be pretty silly to insist it’s not a color on the basis of us being unable to see it, wouldn’t it?