Could there be a material that inverts the colours seen through it?Could there be a planet that is naturally comprised of elements past ununoctium?Are there any elements that wouldn't be useful to a self-replicating machine?Storage of a material that passes through non-living matterHow could there be a horizon on a flat earth?Could a human die through a dream?What's a cool function or ability that a new element on the periodic table could have?How could a country broadcast digital data through tap water (instead of radio waves)?Is there any material today that could withstand the impact of a baseball at 0.05c?Mechanism to slow down the light emitted by an object such that it will result in inaccurate position of the object to the observer?Feasibility of a purely mechanical grayscale “computer monitor”
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Could there be a material that inverts the colours seen through it?
Could there be a planet that is naturally comprised of elements past ununoctium?Are there any elements that wouldn't be useful to a self-replicating machine?Storage of a material that passes through non-living matterHow could there be a horizon on a flat earth?Could a human die through a dream?What's a cool function or ability that a new element on the periodic table could have?How could a country broadcast digital data through tap water (instead of radio waves)?Is there any material today that could withstand the impact of a baseball at 0.05c?Mechanism to slow down the light emitted by an object such that it will result in inaccurate position of the object to the observer?Feasibility of a purely mechanical grayscale “computer monitor”
$begingroup$
I had a vision of a creature that touched things, and wherever it touched, it left a mark opposite to the original colour.
For example when it walked across the grass the grass had red footprints, when it touched the wet stone it shone with a patch of white.
Could such a material, a liquid or perhaps a dust, that achieves the described effect exist?
If yes, how might it work or what would it be made of?
science-based physics chemistry light optics
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I had a vision of a creature that touched things, and wherever it touched, it left a mark opposite to the original colour.
For example when it walked across the grass the grass had red footprints, when it touched the wet stone it shone with a patch of white.
Could such a material, a liquid or perhaps a dust, that achieves the described effect exist?
If yes, how might it work or what would it be made of?
science-based physics chemistry light optics
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
$endgroup$
2
$begingroup$
handwavium should do just fine
$endgroup$
– DJ Spicy Deluxe
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
The answers already state whats physically possible, but noone posted the obligatory xkcd for this yet.
$endgroup$
– Nicolai
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Color is a sensation; it exists in the mind. It is not a physical quantity, it does not exist in nature. And the complementary color of green is most definitely not red, but rather a violet / purple. P.S. We don't speak of "opposite" colors; we speak of "complementary" colors -- colors which give white when mixed together (or black, depending on whether we use an additive or a subtractive color model).
$endgroup$
– AlexP
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I was always of the persuasion that red was the complementary colour of green since the addition of the other primary colours yellow and blue (in the subtractive system) were green. In the additive system I would have expected it to be cyan (0x0FF), but never violet. Is violet not the excitement of red and blue photoreceptors and thus contains red and thus cannot be its complementary colour, or am I confusing something?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
It depends on what you mean by 'opposite'. If you mean different, that's certainly doable. Think of color as a frequency (because that's what it is), red is the lowest we see, violet the highest. The other colors are simply different frequencies. If you simply want to 'shift' colors, or change colors, that shouldn't be hard at all - different colors are simply chemical filters. Some materials absorb everything but red, some everything but green. Whatever they don't absorb is what we see because it reflects what it doesn't absorb.
$endgroup$
– Tracy Cramer
7 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I had a vision of a creature that touched things, and wherever it touched, it left a mark opposite to the original colour.
For example when it walked across the grass the grass had red footprints, when it touched the wet stone it shone with a patch of white.
Could such a material, a liquid or perhaps a dust, that achieves the described effect exist?
If yes, how might it work or what would it be made of?
science-based physics chemistry light optics
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
$endgroup$
I had a vision of a creature that touched things, and wherever it touched, it left a mark opposite to the original colour.
For example when it walked across the grass the grass had red footprints, when it touched the wet stone it shone with a patch of white.
Could such a material, a liquid or perhaps a dust, that achieves the described effect exist?
If yes, how might it work or what would it be made of?
science-based physics chemistry light optics
science-based physics chemistry light optics
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
asked 4 hours ago
A Lambent EyeA Lambent Eye
2,229946
2,229946
2
$begingroup$
handwavium should do just fine
$endgroup$
– DJ Spicy Deluxe
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
The answers already state whats physically possible, but noone posted the obligatory xkcd for this yet.
$endgroup$
– Nicolai
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Color is a sensation; it exists in the mind. It is not a physical quantity, it does not exist in nature. And the complementary color of green is most definitely not red, but rather a violet / purple. P.S. We don't speak of "opposite" colors; we speak of "complementary" colors -- colors which give white when mixed together (or black, depending on whether we use an additive or a subtractive color model).
$endgroup$
– AlexP
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I was always of the persuasion that red was the complementary colour of green since the addition of the other primary colours yellow and blue (in the subtractive system) were green. In the additive system I would have expected it to be cyan (0x0FF), but never violet. Is violet not the excitement of red and blue photoreceptors and thus contains red and thus cannot be its complementary colour, or am I confusing something?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
It depends on what you mean by 'opposite'. If you mean different, that's certainly doable. Think of color as a frequency (because that's what it is), red is the lowest we see, violet the highest. The other colors are simply different frequencies. If you simply want to 'shift' colors, or change colors, that shouldn't be hard at all - different colors are simply chemical filters. Some materials absorb everything but red, some everything but green. Whatever they don't absorb is what we see because it reflects what it doesn't absorb.
$endgroup$
– Tracy Cramer
7 mins ago
add a comment |
2
$begingroup$
handwavium should do just fine
$endgroup$
– DJ Spicy Deluxe
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
The answers already state whats physically possible, but noone posted the obligatory xkcd for this yet.
$endgroup$
– Nicolai
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Color is a sensation; it exists in the mind. It is not a physical quantity, it does not exist in nature. And the complementary color of green is most definitely not red, but rather a violet / purple. P.S. We don't speak of "opposite" colors; we speak of "complementary" colors -- colors which give white when mixed together (or black, depending on whether we use an additive or a subtractive color model).
$endgroup$
– AlexP
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I was always of the persuasion that red was the complementary colour of green since the addition of the other primary colours yellow and blue (in the subtractive system) were green. In the additive system I would have expected it to be cyan (0x0FF), but never violet. Is violet not the excitement of red and blue photoreceptors and thus contains red and thus cannot be its complementary colour, or am I confusing something?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
It depends on what you mean by 'opposite'. If you mean different, that's certainly doable. Think of color as a frequency (because that's what it is), red is the lowest we see, violet the highest. The other colors are simply different frequencies. If you simply want to 'shift' colors, or change colors, that shouldn't be hard at all - different colors are simply chemical filters. Some materials absorb everything but red, some everything but green. Whatever they don't absorb is what we see because it reflects what it doesn't absorb.
$endgroup$
– Tracy Cramer
7 mins ago
2
2
$begingroup$
handwavium should do just fine
$endgroup$
– DJ Spicy Deluxe
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
handwavium should do just fine
$endgroup$
– DJ Spicy Deluxe
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
The answers already state whats physically possible, but noone posted the obligatory xkcd for this yet.
$endgroup$
– Nicolai
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
The answers already state whats physically possible, but noone posted the obligatory xkcd for this yet.
$endgroup$
– Nicolai
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Color is a sensation; it exists in the mind. It is not a physical quantity, it does not exist in nature. And the complementary color of green is most definitely not red, but rather a violet / purple. P.S. We don't speak of "opposite" colors; we speak of "complementary" colors -- colors which give white when mixed together (or black, depending on whether we use an additive or a subtractive color model).
$endgroup$
– AlexP
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Color is a sensation; it exists in the mind. It is not a physical quantity, it does not exist in nature. And the complementary color of green is most definitely not red, but rather a violet / purple. P.S. We don't speak of "opposite" colors; we speak of "complementary" colors -- colors which give white when mixed together (or black, depending on whether we use an additive or a subtractive color model).
$endgroup$
– AlexP
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I was always of the persuasion that red was the complementary colour of green since the addition of the other primary colours yellow and blue (in the subtractive system) were green. In the additive system I would have expected it to be cyan (0x0FF), but never violet. Is violet not the excitement of red and blue photoreceptors and thus contains red and thus cannot be its complementary colour, or am I confusing something?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
I was always of the persuasion that red was the complementary colour of green since the addition of the other primary colours yellow and blue (in the subtractive system) were green. In the additive system I would have expected it to be cyan (0x0FF), but never violet. Is violet not the excitement of red and blue photoreceptors and thus contains red and thus cannot be its complementary colour, or am I confusing something?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
It depends on what you mean by 'opposite'. If you mean different, that's certainly doable. Think of color as a frequency (because that's what it is), red is the lowest we see, violet the highest. The other colors are simply different frequencies. If you simply want to 'shift' colors, or change colors, that shouldn't be hard at all - different colors are simply chemical filters. Some materials absorb everything but red, some everything but green. Whatever they don't absorb is what we see because it reflects what it doesn't absorb.
$endgroup$
– Tracy Cramer
7 mins ago
$begingroup$
It depends on what you mean by 'opposite'. If you mean different, that's certainly doable. Think of color as a frequency (because that's what it is), red is the lowest we see, violet the highest. The other colors are simply different frequencies. If you simply want to 'shift' colors, or change colors, that shouldn't be hard at all - different colors are simply chemical filters. Some materials absorb everything but red, some everything but green. Whatever they don't absorb is what we see because it reflects what it doesn't absorb.
$endgroup$
– Tracy Cramer
7 mins ago
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
Twenty-five years ago I had a friend in the military who told me about glasses he was issued that used passive technology (layers of various materials) to shift the frequency of light, allowing the user to see images at a base frequency that wasn't the original frequency (everything shifted toward the blue frequency, as I recall). For all I know he was explaining a tech he didn't fully understand. However, that's as close as I can imagine to what you're asking about.
Inverting frequencies is, IMO, impossible. I could be wrong, but it means you need a layer that passes blue light but shifts red to blue, and then another layer that passes red light but shifts blue to red.
And you already have an impossibility, because the effect of the first filter will always be reversed by the second filter. There's no way to tell the second filter, "here's unfiltered light, don't touch the stuff I've already dealt with."
To add to the problem, "color" is actually a range of frequencies. You're not "inverting" the color, you're shifting the wavelength (frequencies) up and down. Except that the "inversion" of a color may shift up for one color and down for another and that might not be passively predictable. In other words, everything doesn't simply shift down.
Conclusion
There isn't and cannot be a passive system that "inverts" color. The inversion of a color is not mathematically objective and when you bring multiple layers of materials into play, lower levels of filters will undo what the upper filters did.
You can only do this with an active system. AKA, a camera-computer-screen solution that detects the colors and inverts them for display on the screen in real time.
One more thing, this is one of those, "if I had the answer, I wouldn't post it here, I'd be running to the patent office" questions. I can most certainly be wrong. I don't know everything about material science, optics, and color shifting. But I also don't know of anything on the market that can do this — or even what I described from my old friend. Therefore, it's reasonable to believe that such a valuable invention wouldn't be posted here.
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, not directly
The nature of light means that you can't just shift its colour so easily. Each colour is create by a particular wavelength which has an associated energy. There are ways that the wavelength can be changed, but they are limited. Two photos can be combined to make a single photon of twice the energy (this is how most green lasers work), but since the energy of the shortest wavelength of visible light is just under twice the energy of the longest wavelength, this may not be preformed on any light in the visible spectrum and still get another visible wavelength. Fluorescence can absorb one frequency of light and emit another, but typically the emitted light is of lower energy (there is some higher energy light emitted as well).
The next problem is that "opposite" colours only occur due to how the brain reads light signals. The colour spectrum is linear, red->green->blue, purple does not exist, it is simply our interpretation of seeing red and blue at the same time. Opposite colours depend on a circular interpretation of colours that conflicts with the fundamental nature of light.
Now if you want such a creature to exist, you can, but the results must be obtained indirectly. The first option to do this is have the creature excrete multiple chemicals, and purposely select them based on their surroundings. The second option is to identify that a large amount of colour comes from a limited amount of pigments (chlorophyl, iron oxides, copper oxides). If the creature carried a compound that formed various pigments in reaction to the more common pigments it comes in contact with, it could effectively change their colours. This second option would be hard to implement, as each pigment changing chemical would have to avoid reacting the the other pigment changing chemicals.
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Color perception is a physiologic phenomena: we see red as the negative of green because we have a particular mechanism in our eyes in which certain wavelengths and not others interact with the receptors.
For a dog or a bee it would be different.
Therefore, if you want to alter the physiologic perception of color, you might go for a fictional psychedelic substance which, instead of causing synesthesia, messes up with the neurons elaborating signals from the optical nerve.
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Not sure why others say it can't be. For instance, you can make a a filter which filters out blue light and behind it one which shifts red to blue or whatever you like (depending on whether you mean opposite colors on the spectrum, complimentary colors for our eyes or something else). Besides it, you make one which filters out red light followed by one which shifts blue to red. With a little bit of leakage, the middle frequencies (yellow and green) also get switched around.
This will lose you 50% of the light, but switch colors.
If you added polarisation tricks, you might actually be able to reduce the loss of luminescence to some degree...
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
add a comment |
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4 Answers
4
active
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
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active
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$begingroup$
Twenty-five years ago I had a friend in the military who told me about glasses he was issued that used passive technology (layers of various materials) to shift the frequency of light, allowing the user to see images at a base frequency that wasn't the original frequency (everything shifted toward the blue frequency, as I recall). For all I know he was explaining a tech he didn't fully understand. However, that's as close as I can imagine to what you're asking about.
Inverting frequencies is, IMO, impossible. I could be wrong, but it means you need a layer that passes blue light but shifts red to blue, and then another layer that passes red light but shifts blue to red.
And you already have an impossibility, because the effect of the first filter will always be reversed by the second filter. There's no way to tell the second filter, "here's unfiltered light, don't touch the stuff I've already dealt with."
To add to the problem, "color" is actually a range of frequencies. You're not "inverting" the color, you're shifting the wavelength (frequencies) up and down. Except that the "inversion" of a color may shift up for one color and down for another and that might not be passively predictable. In other words, everything doesn't simply shift down.
Conclusion
There isn't and cannot be a passive system that "inverts" color. The inversion of a color is not mathematically objective and when you bring multiple layers of materials into play, lower levels of filters will undo what the upper filters did.
You can only do this with an active system. AKA, a camera-computer-screen solution that detects the colors and inverts them for display on the screen in real time.
One more thing, this is one of those, "if I had the answer, I wouldn't post it here, I'd be running to the patent office" questions. I can most certainly be wrong. I don't know everything about material science, optics, and color shifting. But I also don't know of anything on the market that can do this — or even what I described from my old friend. Therefore, it's reasonable to believe that such a valuable invention wouldn't be posted here.
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Twenty-five years ago I had a friend in the military who told me about glasses he was issued that used passive technology (layers of various materials) to shift the frequency of light, allowing the user to see images at a base frequency that wasn't the original frequency (everything shifted toward the blue frequency, as I recall). For all I know he was explaining a tech he didn't fully understand. However, that's as close as I can imagine to what you're asking about.
Inverting frequencies is, IMO, impossible. I could be wrong, but it means you need a layer that passes blue light but shifts red to blue, and then another layer that passes red light but shifts blue to red.
And you already have an impossibility, because the effect of the first filter will always be reversed by the second filter. There's no way to tell the second filter, "here's unfiltered light, don't touch the stuff I've already dealt with."
To add to the problem, "color" is actually a range of frequencies. You're not "inverting" the color, you're shifting the wavelength (frequencies) up and down. Except that the "inversion" of a color may shift up for one color and down for another and that might not be passively predictable. In other words, everything doesn't simply shift down.
Conclusion
There isn't and cannot be a passive system that "inverts" color. The inversion of a color is not mathematically objective and when you bring multiple layers of materials into play, lower levels of filters will undo what the upper filters did.
You can only do this with an active system. AKA, a camera-computer-screen solution that detects the colors and inverts them for display on the screen in real time.
One more thing, this is one of those, "if I had the answer, I wouldn't post it here, I'd be running to the patent office" questions. I can most certainly be wrong. I don't know everything about material science, optics, and color shifting. But I also don't know of anything on the market that can do this — or even what I described from my old friend. Therefore, it's reasonable to believe that such a valuable invention wouldn't be posted here.
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Twenty-five years ago I had a friend in the military who told me about glasses he was issued that used passive technology (layers of various materials) to shift the frequency of light, allowing the user to see images at a base frequency that wasn't the original frequency (everything shifted toward the blue frequency, as I recall). For all I know he was explaining a tech he didn't fully understand. However, that's as close as I can imagine to what you're asking about.
Inverting frequencies is, IMO, impossible. I could be wrong, but it means you need a layer that passes blue light but shifts red to blue, and then another layer that passes red light but shifts blue to red.
And you already have an impossibility, because the effect of the first filter will always be reversed by the second filter. There's no way to tell the second filter, "here's unfiltered light, don't touch the stuff I've already dealt with."
To add to the problem, "color" is actually a range of frequencies. You're not "inverting" the color, you're shifting the wavelength (frequencies) up and down. Except that the "inversion" of a color may shift up for one color and down for another and that might not be passively predictable. In other words, everything doesn't simply shift down.
Conclusion
There isn't and cannot be a passive system that "inverts" color. The inversion of a color is not mathematically objective and when you bring multiple layers of materials into play, lower levels of filters will undo what the upper filters did.
You can only do this with an active system. AKA, a camera-computer-screen solution that detects the colors and inverts them for display on the screen in real time.
One more thing, this is one of those, "if I had the answer, I wouldn't post it here, I'd be running to the patent office" questions. I can most certainly be wrong. I don't know everything about material science, optics, and color shifting. But I also don't know of anything on the market that can do this — or even what I described from my old friend. Therefore, it's reasonable to believe that such a valuable invention wouldn't be posted here.
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
$endgroup$
Twenty-five years ago I had a friend in the military who told me about glasses he was issued that used passive technology (layers of various materials) to shift the frequency of light, allowing the user to see images at a base frequency that wasn't the original frequency (everything shifted toward the blue frequency, as I recall). For all I know he was explaining a tech he didn't fully understand. However, that's as close as I can imagine to what you're asking about.
Inverting frequencies is, IMO, impossible. I could be wrong, but it means you need a layer that passes blue light but shifts red to blue, and then another layer that passes red light but shifts blue to red.
And you already have an impossibility, because the effect of the first filter will always be reversed by the second filter. There's no way to tell the second filter, "here's unfiltered light, don't touch the stuff I've already dealt with."
To add to the problem, "color" is actually a range of frequencies. You're not "inverting" the color, you're shifting the wavelength (frequencies) up and down. Except that the "inversion" of a color may shift up for one color and down for another and that might not be passively predictable. In other words, everything doesn't simply shift down.
Conclusion
There isn't and cannot be a passive system that "inverts" color. The inversion of a color is not mathematically objective and when you bring multiple layers of materials into play, lower levels of filters will undo what the upper filters did.
You can only do this with an active system. AKA, a camera-computer-screen solution that detects the colors and inverts them for display on the screen in real time.
One more thing, this is one of those, "if I had the answer, I wouldn't post it here, I'd be running to the patent office" questions. I can most certainly be wrong. I don't know everything about material science, optics, and color shifting. But I also don't know of anything on the market that can do this — or even what I described from my old friend. Therefore, it's reasonable to believe that such a valuable invention wouldn't be posted here.
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
answered 4 hours ago
JBHJBH
50.5k6103245
50.5k6103245
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
I can't see a marketable use case to be quite frank...
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
Photographers would die to get a material like this. A color photo negative is simply an inversion of the colors. Anyone with a reason to shift colors out of an unwanted spectrum (everything from sunglasses to windows in a military tank or an aircraft) would love this. And the novelty market would sell them by the pallet load. And that's just the applications off the top of my head. (One more: spectroscopic analysis would benefit from this. Think "proving the authenticity of an original painting.")
$endgroup$
– JBH
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, not directly
The nature of light means that you can't just shift its colour so easily. Each colour is create by a particular wavelength which has an associated energy. There are ways that the wavelength can be changed, but they are limited. Two photos can be combined to make a single photon of twice the energy (this is how most green lasers work), but since the energy of the shortest wavelength of visible light is just under twice the energy of the longest wavelength, this may not be preformed on any light in the visible spectrum and still get another visible wavelength. Fluorescence can absorb one frequency of light and emit another, but typically the emitted light is of lower energy (there is some higher energy light emitted as well).
The next problem is that "opposite" colours only occur due to how the brain reads light signals. The colour spectrum is linear, red->green->blue, purple does not exist, it is simply our interpretation of seeing red and blue at the same time. Opposite colours depend on a circular interpretation of colours that conflicts with the fundamental nature of light.
Now if you want such a creature to exist, you can, but the results must be obtained indirectly. The first option to do this is have the creature excrete multiple chemicals, and purposely select them based on their surroundings. The second option is to identify that a large amount of colour comes from a limited amount of pigments (chlorophyl, iron oxides, copper oxides). If the creature carried a compound that formed various pigments in reaction to the more common pigments it comes in contact with, it could effectively change their colours. This second option would be hard to implement, as each pigment changing chemical would have to avoid reacting the the other pigment changing chemicals.
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, not directly
The nature of light means that you can't just shift its colour so easily. Each colour is create by a particular wavelength which has an associated energy. There are ways that the wavelength can be changed, but they are limited. Two photos can be combined to make a single photon of twice the energy (this is how most green lasers work), but since the energy of the shortest wavelength of visible light is just under twice the energy of the longest wavelength, this may not be preformed on any light in the visible spectrum and still get another visible wavelength. Fluorescence can absorb one frequency of light and emit another, but typically the emitted light is of lower energy (there is some higher energy light emitted as well).
The next problem is that "opposite" colours only occur due to how the brain reads light signals. The colour spectrum is linear, red->green->blue, purple does not exist, it is simply our interpretation of seeing red and blue at the same time. Opposite colours depend on a circular interpretation of colours that conflicts with the fundamental nature of light.
Now if you want such a creature to exist, you can, but the results must be obtained indirectly. The first option to do this is have the creature excrete multiple chemicals, and purposely select them based on their surroundings. The second option is to identify that a large amount of colour comes from a limited amount of pigments (chlorophyl, iron oxides, copper oxides). If the creature carried a compound that formed various pigments in reaction to the more common pigments it comes in contact with, it could effectively change their colours. This second option would be hard to implement, as each pigment changing chemical would have to avoid reacting the the other pigment changing chemicals.
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No, not directly
The nature of light means that you can't just shift its colour so easily. Each colour is create by a particular wavelength which has an associated energy. There are ways that the wavelength can be changed, but they are limited. Two photos can be combined to make a single photon of twice the energy (this is how most green lasers work), but since the energy of the shortest wavelength of visible light is just under twice the energy of the longest wavelength, this may not be preformed on any light in the visible spectrum and still get another visible wavelength. Fluorescence can absorb one frequency of light and emit another, but typically the emitted light is of lower energy (there is some higher energy light emitted as well).
The next problem is that "opposite" colours only occur due to how the brain reads light signals. The colour spectrum is linear, red->green->blue, purple does not exist, it is simply our interpretation of seeing red and blue at the same time. Opposite colours depend on a circular interpretation of colours that conflicts with the fundamental nature of light.
Now if you want such a creature to exist, you can, but the results must be obtained indirectly. The first option to do this is have the creature excrete multiple chemicals, and purposely select them based on their surroundings. The second option is to identify that a large amount of colour comes from a limited amount of pigments (chlorophyl, iron oxides, copper oxides). If the creature carried a compound that formed various pigments in reaction to the more common pigments it comes in contact with, it could effectively change their colours. This second option would be hard to implement, as each pigment changing chemical would have to avoid reacting the the other pigment changing chemicals.
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
$endgroup$
No, not directly
The nature of light means that you can't just shift its colour so easily. Each colour is create by a particular wavelength which has an associated energy. There are ways that the wavelength can be changed, but they are limited. Two photos can be combined to make a single photon of twice the energy (this is how most green lasers work), but since the energy of the shortest wavelength of visible light is just under twice the energy of the longest wavelength, this may not be preformed on any light in the visible spectrum and still get another visible wavelength. Fluorescence can absorb one frequency of light and emit another, but typically the emitted light is of lower energy (there is some higher energy light emitted as well).
The next problem is that "opposite" colours only occur due to how the brain reads light signals. The colour spectrum is linear, red->green->blue, purple does not exist, it is simply our interpretation of seeing red and blue at the same time. Opposite colours depend on a circular interpretation of colours that conflicts with the fundamental nature of light.
Now if you want such a creature to exist, you can, but the results must be obtained indirectly. The first option to do this is have the creature excrete multiple chemicals, and purposely select them based on their surroundings. The second option is to identify that a large amount of colour comes from a limited amount of pigments (chlorophyl, iron oxides, copper oxides). If the creature carried a compound that formed various pigments in reaction to the more common pigments it comes in contact with, it could effectively change their colours. This second option would be hard to implement, as each pigment changing chemical would have to avoid reacting the the other pigment changing chemicals.
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
answered 4 hours ago
XRFXRF
1,235138
1,235138
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
How about a concoction of proteins similar to an immune system, able to recognise other proteins and react accordingly?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
@ALambentEye Proteins can coexist in large numbers so that solves that problem. You might have a problem with proteins reacting with multiple substances (like hemoglobin reacting to both CO and O2), but no more than any other chemical. Seems like the best starting place proposed so far.
$endgroup$
– XRF
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Color perception is a physiologic phenomena: we see red as the negative of green because we have a particular mechanism in our eyes in which certain wavelengths and not others interact with the receptors.
For a dog or a bee it would be different.
Therefore, if you want to alter the physiologic perception of color, you might go for a fictional psychedelic substance which, instead of causing synesthesia, messes up with the neurons elaborating signals from the optical nerve.
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Color perception is a physiologic phenomena: we see red as the negative of green because we have a particular mechanism in our eyes in which certain wavelengths and not others interact with the receptors.
For a dog or a bee it would be different.
Therefore, if you want to alter the physiologic perception of color, you might go for a fictional psychedelic substance which, instead of causing synesthesia, messes up with the neurons elaborating signals from the optical nerve.
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Color perception is a physiologic phenomena: we see red as the negative of green because we have a particular mechanism in our eyes in which certain wavelengths and not others interact with the receptors.
For a dog or a bee it would be different.
Therefore, if you want to alter the physiologic perception of color, you might go for a fictional psychedelic substance which, instead of causing synesthesia, messes up with the neurons elaborating signals from the optical nerve.
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
$endgroup$
Color perception is a physiologic phenomena: we see red as the negative of green because we have a particular mechanism in our eyes in which certain wavelengths and not others interact with the receptors.
For a dog or a bee it would be different.
Therefore, if you want to alter the physiologic perception of color, you might go for a fictional psychedelic substance which, instead of causing synesthesia, messes up with the neurons elaborating signals from the optical nerve.
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
answered 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦L.Dutch
94.8k29221458
94.8k29221458
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
So more like a material that confuses colour perception when observed? Now that would be an interesting discovery.
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
4 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Not sure why others say it can't be. For instance, you can make a a filter which filters out blue light and behind it one which shifts red to blue or whatever you like (depending on whether you mean opposite colors on the spectrum, complimentary colors for our eyes or something else). Besides it, you make one which filters out red light followed by one which shifts blue to red. With a little bit of leakage, the middle frequencies (yellow and green) also get switched around.
This will lose you 50% of the light, but switch colors.
If you added polarisation tricks, you might actually be able to reduce the loss of luminescence to some degree...
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Not sure why others say it can't be. For instance, you can make a a filter which filters out blue light and behind it one which shifts red to blue or whatever you like (depending on whether you mean opposite colors on the spectrum, complimentary colors for our eyes or something else). Besides it, you make one which filters out red light followed by one which shifts blue to red. With a little bit of leakage, the middle frequencies (yellow and green) also get switched around.
This will lose you 50% of the light, but switch colors.
If you added polarisation tricks, you might actually be able to reduce the loss of luminescence to some degree...
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Not sure why others say it can't be. For instance, you can make a a filter which filters out blue light and behind it one which shifts red to blue or whatever you like (depending on whether you mean opposite colors on the spectrum, complimentary colors for our eyes or something else). Besides it, you make one which filters out red light followed by one which shifts blue to red. With a little bit of leakage, the middle frequencies (yellow and green) also get switched around.
This will lose you 50% of the light, but switch colors.
If you added polarisation tricks, you might actually be able to reduce the loss of luminescence to some degree...
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
$endgroup$
Not sure why others say it can't be. For instance, you can make a a filter which filters out blue light and behind it one which shifts red to blue or whatever you like (depending on whether you mean opposite colors on the spectrum, complimentary colors for our eyes or something else). Besides it, you make one which filters out red light followed by one which shifts blue to red. With a little bit of leakage, the middle frequencies (yellow and green) also get switched around.
This will lose you 50% of the light, but switch colors.
If you added polarisation tricks, you might actually be able to reduce the loss of luminescence to some degree...
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
answered 20 mins ago
Carl DombrowskiCarl Dombrowski
5424
5424
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
$begingroup$
"Polarization tricks" would further reduce the amount of light. Also, your answer is incomplete unless you specify that there are lenses to recombine the output from the 2 filters to a single image.
$endgroup$
– krb
10 mins ago
add a comment |
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2
$begingroup$
handwavium should do just fine
$endgroup$
– DJ Spicy Deluxe
4 hours ago
$begingroup$
The answers already state whats physically possible, but noone posted the obligatory xkcd for this yet.
$endgroup$
– Nicolai
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
Color is a sensation; it exists in the mind. It is not a physical quantity, it does not exist in nature. And the complementary color of green is most definitely not red, but rather a violet / purple. P.S. We don't speak of "opposite" colors; we speak of "complementary" colors -- colors which give white when mixed together (or black, depending on whether we use an additive or a subtractive color model).
$endgroup$
– AlexP
2 hours ago
$begingroup$
I was always of the persuasion that red was the complementary colour of green since the addition of the other primary colours yellow and blue (in the subtractive system) were green. In the additive system I would have expected it to be cyan (0x0FF), but never violet. Is violet not the excitement of red and blue photoreceptors and thus contains red and thus cannot be its complementary colour, or am I confusing something?
$endgroup$
– A Lambent Eye
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
It depends on what you mean by 'opposite'. If you mean different, that's certainly doable. Think of color as a frequency (because that's what it is), red is the lowest we see, violet the highest. The other colors are simply different frequencies. If you simply want to 'shift' colors, or change colors, that shouldn't be hard at all - different colors are simply chemical filters. Some materials absorb everything but red, some everything but green. Whatever they don't absorb is what we see because it reflects what it doesn't absorb.
$endgroup$
– Tracy Cramer
7 mins ago