Color wheels are wrong? How color vision actually works
Report a link problem
Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderThis article tries to sensationalize and obfuscate something that is pretty simple in reality. RGB are the primaries in light. By mixing these three colors you can create any color the human vision system can perceive (yes, because of tristimulus). When white light hits a material, some of those RGB wavelengths are absorbed (subtracted). RGB - GB(Cyan) = Red, RGB - RG(Yellow) = Blue, RGB - RB(Magenta) = Green. Thus, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow act as primaries (colors from which…
Wow, just wow. This is what happens when someone who knows a little bit about how the eyes and brain interpret colour decides to write an article where they fill their gaps of knowledge with mistakes instead of doing some research. Since the author wanted to talk about the eye, they should have kept to additive colour only and not tried to be confusing by introducing subtractive colour, which they neither understand or present factually.
It shocks me that the magenta is not on the physical spectrum. It means that there is no such a frequency that produce the color magenta.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 449
- Total comments
- 101
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-01-31 | Color Wheels | AliCollins | 4 | 0 |
| 2011-02-01 | Color wheels are wrong? How color vision actually worksFirst breakout · Best thread | akkartik | 225 | 54 |
| 2012-01-31 | How color vision actually works | teju | 2 | 0 |
| 2012-06-27 | Color wheels are wrong? How color vision actually worksLatest 20+ point return | tobyjsullivan | 214 | 44 |
| 2014-03-27 | The color magenta is not physically exist. It's just an illusion of minds. | naruil | 3 | 3 |
| 2015-03-12 | Color Wheels are wrong? How color vision actually works | timdierks | 1 | 0 |