How do the frequencies of colours relate to the frequencies of sound?

Question

I know middle C, for instance, is 440 hZ, but I don't have the numbers on any other note. Could you tell me what the hZ of any other note is?
colours are different frequencies and wavelenghts, how do they correlate?
If any of this makes sense, then how about chords? What colors are equal to what chords?
Thanks for taking the time. This is actually a serious question of mine...

Answer 1

Believe it or not, Isaac Newton was looking for a correlation between colors and the tones of a musical scale (even though he did not know about sound or light wavelengths). That is one theory about why he describes seven colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) to match the seven tones of the musical scale (an octave). I.e. it was a bit of a stretch to label 'indigo' as a distinct band betwen blue and purple.

However, there is no correlation at all.

In fact, the human eye works fundamentally differently than the human ear.

The eye does not distinguish wavelengths ... it has only three types of color receptors, and therefore breaks down all light in terms of mixtures of these three 'primary colors'.

The ear, on the other hand, does work on a frequency basis. It is a long narrowing tube (coiled up to save space), with hairs lining the inside of the tube ... different frequencies tickle different hairs along the tube. So the ear does work with information about the full spectrum of frequencies, not just a small set of receptors like the eye.

So, sorry, there is no correlation.

Answer 2

you're comparing 2 different types of waves.
Light is an electromagnetic wave that is a transverse wave (going up and down)
Sound is a longitudinal wave (back and forth) that is transmitted by moving a medium (like air or water)
Visible light has a frequency of a littl more than about 3 x 10^14 hz
Humans can hear sounds from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

Answer 3

they don't relate at all, sorry

first of all it's not the same thing vibrating. in one case you've got an electro-magnetic wave, which can travel in vacuum. in the other, sound is just the vibration of the medium, so in a vacuum you'd have no sound.

for waves to "relate" in the sense that they could resonate with each other, or cancel each other, they'd need to be in the same medium to start with.

second, the frequencies are completely different. For sound, you tune using the A at 400Hz. For light, the middle of the spectrum of visible light has a wavelength of about 550 nanometers, which gives you a frequency of 5.45E14Hz.

of course, your idea is cute, and who knows, maybe for you, seeing, say, red (though which red exactly, since there is an infinite number of colours?), while listening to a 400Hz A, feels better than if you saw yellow. All i'm saying is that there's no physics behind it.

Answer 4

I don't think there's a truly scientific coorelation. Color is produced via light waves of sub-atomic particles....while sound waves can only be produced where there's an atmosphere--since the waves consist of moving molecules. Beyond earth's atmosphere--in outer space--there is no air, therefore you can't hear sounds in space.