Properties of Colour

Each colour of the spectrum has its own properties in the form of its wavelength and frequency. Although white could be said to be a colour, it is not included in the spectrum as it is in fact made up of all the colours of the spectrum. Isaac Newton proved this by passing sunlight through a glass prism which produced a rainbow spectrum on a surface. He then proceeded to use a second glass prism and combined the two rainbows. This combination produced white light again.

The tables below show each colour and its relative property.

Frequency = Terahertz (one trillion cycles per second)

Wavelength = Nanometers
One meter equals 1,000,000,000 nanometers. One nanometer is about the length of ten atoms in a row.

Figures shown here are approximate

Violet Wavelength 425 - 400 nm Frequency 700 - 790 thz Complementary colour Yellow

Indigo Wavelength 450 - 425 nm Frequency 670 - 700 thz Complementary colour Orange

Blue Wavelength 500 - 450 nm Frequency 670 - 600 thz Complementary colour Red

Green Wavelength 570 - 500 nm Frequency 580 - 530 thz Complementary colour Red

Yellow Wavelength 590 - 570 nm Frequency 530 - 510 thz Complementary colour Violet

Orange Wavelength 610 - 590 nm Frequency 510 - 480 thz Complementary colour Indigo

Red Wavelength 750 - 610 nm Frequency 480 - 405 thz Complementary colour Blue

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