How do wavelengths add-up?

Question

If I have 3 LED lights of following colors and wavengths:

Red 650 nm Blue 450 nm Green 550 nm

All three are placed side by side and turned ON.. then what will be the wavelength of the combined light that my eye will see? Most probably the combined color will be 'whitish' because the mixing of RGB colors give white color.

They don't add, you just have a mixture of waves with different frequencies. The receptors in your eye relative to wave lengths in the mixture will be excited simultaneously (accroding to the intensity of that wave length). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision — Quillo, Oct 21 '20 at 12:19

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 21 '20 at 13:10

White light does not have a single wavelength but instead is described by a spectral distribution, which is not uniquely determined. There are many light compositions that can pass as white. The spectrum of the white light from the three LEDs combined is just the sum of the individual LED spectra, weighed with the proper intensity. Likely, your LEDs are also only approximately described by a single wavelength. Other white light may have a different spectral composition but will still look white.

Your eyes sense just 3 colours, red, green and blue. Note that the sensitivity of the cone cells in your retina also has a spectral width about the central color.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 21 '20 at 14:37

Wavelengths are one to one only with the spectral colors, and wavelengths do not add up to a new one, they remain distinct .

It is the perception of color which is a biological function, due to the receptors of the eye, which creates new hews and colors when more than one wavelength falls on the retina of the eye.

The perceived color will depend on the combination of wavelengths according to the plot above.

How do wavelengths add-up?

2 Answers2