this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 24 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Brown is actually dark orange. It just became its own thing when we gave it a distinct name. So people who know more color names really can see more colors.

[–] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

darker than what? There is no such thing as dark light, colors like brown and pink that are lighter or darker require a comparison point to see

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

you've somehow managed to explain it without understanding it, the whole point is that brown only exists in contrast to other colours.

Brown means "orange that is darker than surrounding colours"

[–] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 3 points 10 hours ago

I think we agree, that was my point 😅

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lighted-display (like a monitor or TV) of brown is dark orange, yes.

In the actual, real, no the physical world, the one you wake up in before getting on the lighted rectangles, brown is a real color.

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Except it isn't "real" in the sense that it doesn't correspond to a specific wavelength of light. It is impossible to produce a brown light; the closest you can get is amber. The color brown is context-dependent and only exists in our perception. To display brown on a screen you have to use orange, desaturate it, and make sure it's darker than its surroundings.

If you pull up a solid brown image on your phone and hold it against a darker background (you may need to turn off the lights), you will see orange.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Right, but in real-life, not in producing a lighted color, just like looking: things are brown. A coffee stain, say.

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 6 points 1 day ago

If you were to point a spectrometer at something brown like a tree trunk you would see wavelengths corresponding to red and green light. That's what I mean when I say brown only exists in our perception; there is no wavelength of light corresponding to the color brown.

[–] ReCursing@feddit.uk 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No it's not. Orangey-brown is kinda dark orange I guess, but greenish brown is certainly not

[–] Acinonyx@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

what's the hexcode for greenish brown?

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It doesn't exist. Nor does brown. It's all just orange, but with extra context. Here is a video you should watch that will be exploring the color brown.

[–] Kichae@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago

I can smell a Technology Connections link from a mile away, apparently.