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EVOLUTION OF COLOR VISION
Describing radiation, light and color in this manner begs an explanation of why humans have come to “see” this radiation in the first place and why we are so good at discerning one type from the next. The explanation lies in the logic of life on earth. Historically, the sun has been the primary source of radiation here on earth. The sun exhibits a seemingly endless cycle of nuclear fusion, which emits a very elaborate spectrum of radiation: essentially, the complete spectrum as we know it, from x-rays to radio waves. The atmosphere that blankets our earth, however, blocks the vast majority of this radiation. Some of this radiation slips through, and as far as we can guess, has always slipped through. This band of sneaky radiation that actually makes it to earth’s surface is a band that includes our visible spectrum and some of the ultra-violet and infra-red radiation just beyond the end of the “visible spectrum”. Color vision is an adaptation that humans have developed in response to radiation that has always been here. We have had a long time on earth’s surface to refine our ability to not only detect this radiation, but to articulate very minute differences, just as we can with smells and tastes.
This logic also explains why we do not readily detect or use all of the
other forms of radiation; they were simply never on the earth’s surface for us to care about. It is only the advent of modern science that has introduced many of these other forms of radiation – microwaves, x-rays, and radio waves - to our lives.
Figure 5.4 Humans have evolved to detect and use the small band of radiation that slips through the earth’s atmosphere: visible light, ultra-violet, and infra-red.
Radiation that reaches the earth interacts with the surfaces around us in three ways:
Radiation can be “reflected” or bounce off of a surface. Radiation can be absorbed by a surface.
Radiation can “transmit” or pass through a surface.
It is through these reactions that the complex spectrums from sunlight and electric light sources become different combinations of visible radiation that we translate into different color experiences.
Despite the complexity that can be attributed to the physics of radiation
plays, the lessons are fairly basic: