Visible spectrum

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The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be detected by the human eye. It is commonly taken to extend from wavelengths of about 380 nanometres at the violet end to about 750 nanometres at the red end.

When white light is dispersed by a prism or diffraction grating, it separates into a continuous range of spectral colours. The familiar sequence is violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, and red, although the boundaries are gradual rather than sharply defined.

Human vision is most sensitive near the green-yellow part of the spectrum under bright conditions. Sensitivity changes at low light levels, and the exact limits of visible perception vary among individuals and with intensity.

The visible range is important because Earth's atmosphere transmits much of it and sunlight contains substantial energy within it. Visible-spectrum analysis is used in vision, photography, astronomy, spectroscopy, lighting, displays, and remote sensing.

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• Source / publisher: Wikipedia
• URL type: WWW
• Credits: Wikipedia
• URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum