this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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Science Memes

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Colours (mander.xyz)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Brown is actually dark orange. It just became its own thing when we gave it a distinct name. So people who know more color names really can see more colors.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

darker than what? There is no such thing as dark light, colors like brown and pink that are lighter or darker require a comparison point to see

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

you've somehow managed to explain it without understanding it, the whole point is that brown only exists in contrast to other colours.

Brown means "orange that is darker than surrounding colours"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I think we agree, that was my point 😅

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

lighted-display (like a monitor or TV) of brown is dark orange, yes.

In the actual, real, no the physical world, the one you wake up in before getting on the lighted rectangles, brown is a real color.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Except it isn't "real" in the sense that it doesn't correspond to a specific wavelength of light. It is impossible to produce a brown light; the closest you can get is amber. The color brown is context-dependent and only exists in our perception. To display brown on a screen you have to use orange, desaturate it, and make sure it's darker than its surroundings.

If you pull up a solid brown image on your phone and hold it against a darker background (you may need to turn off the lights), you will see orange.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Right, but in real-life, not in producing a lighted color, just like looking: things are brown. A coffee stain, say.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

If you were to point a spectrometer at something brown like a tree trunk you would see wavelengths corresponding to red and green light. That's what I mean when I say brown only exists in our perception; there is no wavelength of light corresponding to the color brown.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No it's not. Orangey-brown is kinda dark orange I guess, but greenish brown is certainly not

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

what's the hexcode for greenish brown?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

It doesn't exist. Nor does brown. It's all just orange, but with extra context. Here is a video you should watch that will be exploring the color brown.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago

I can smell a Technology Connections link from a mile away, apparently.