Why is there a color wheel when wavelengths form a line?
A wavelength scale runs from shorter to longer light waves. A color wheel comes back to where it began. The two organize different things: one orders wavelengths, while the other arranges hues and includes mixtures such as purple. A wheel therefore needs a chosen color convention; it cannot simply bend a spectrum into a circle without changing what the diagram means.
Questions you could explore
- Where does purple fit if it has no single wavelength of its own?
Start reading
- International Commission on Illumination (CIE)Purple stimulus
Defines purple as a hue outside the spectral sequence, an important clue to why a hue circle differs from a wavelength scale.
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