Why can the color red be seen from such a far distance???

Question

Thanks for your extra bit o' incredible detail...Sincereley,Tom Science 4

Answer 1

I am sorry that I an unablet to answer your question without the google and I don't feel like it right now.

However, I cannot resist asking: are you waiting for someone to ask: "What's Science 4?" Please answer, or it will drive me crazy.

;0)

Answer 2

None of previous answers explained what I believe the author meant to ask.
When it is frog or smog, or other atmosphere pollution, the light is dispersed by the atmosphere irregularities. Even some fluctuations in air density disperse light. The less is the wavelength of light, the more readily it is dispersed. That is why we see blue sky in the day, not red sky, - because the sunlight is dispersed by atmosphere density irregularities, the size of which is comparable with the size of blue light wavelength, but is less then the size of red light wavelength. That is why the red light is seen at longer distances then the blue or green one, because it is dispersed less.

Buy the way, red light of a car stoplights, for example, are seemed to be more close to a spectator than the yellow lights for some other reason, it is so because the red light has smaller refraction coefficient then yellow or green or blue, and our eye has to focus on closer distance to obtain the image on the eye's retina.

Answer 3

It was commonly thought for many years that red, generally associated with "danger," could be seen the farthest distance away. (In fact that's one of the main reasons that red was used.) But extensive tests in recent decades have shown that a rather virulent, sickly yellow-green is most detectable to the human eye, particularly in averted vision --- possibly because it is definitely NOT a "natural" colour, i.e. one that arises in Nature.

That is why its use for protective reflective garments is now gaining ground slowly in parts of the U.S. Once again, the U.S. is actually behind other countries in a general public safety issue. Many European countries switched from their own traditional red (for fire engines) and red and white (for ambulances) to this more distinctive colour, a few years after the research results were convincingly demonstrated.

Live long and prosper.

Answer 4

The real question is, how is the human eye so powerfully strong to be able to see things over a billion miles away (stars)?? There's nothing incredibly special about the colour red mind. You could be thinking of a red-shift? Which is how it's been determined that the universe is expanding, its due to the marginly lower wave-length than other colours, it travels slower.

Answer 5

Actually, the eye is more sensitive to a yellowish-green hue than to red. (Read up about "chromaticity diagram" for details on this.) For that reason, emergency vehicles are often painted yellow rather than red.

Answer 6

The wavelength of red is more so can travel longer.