The human eye can see 7,000,000 colors. Some of these are eyesores. Certain colors and color relationships can be eye irritants, cause headaches, and wreak havoc with human vision. Other colors and color combinations are soothing. Consequently, the appropriate use of color can maximize productivity, minimize visual fatigue, and relax the whole body.

Yellow, pure bright lemon yellow is the most fatiguing color. Why? The answer comes from the physics of light and optics. There are three things that can happen to a light wave. It can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted. The terms transparent, translucent, and opaque describe whether all light passes through an object, only some passes through, or no light passes through. Some materials let certain colors pass through, and absorb other colors; these materials are called dyes or pigments.There's a rule that governs pigments: they can absorb any color of light, but they cannot absorb their own color. For instance, why does an apple appear red. Well, all the colors of light strike the apple, and all colors are absorbed by the red peeling. However you must remember red cannot absorb red, so the red light is reflected back to your eyes.

Look at the picture below.

Bright colors such as yellow reflect more light, resulting in excessive stimulation of the eyes. Therefore, yellow is an eye irritant. Babies cry more in yellow rooms, husbands and wives fight more in yellow kitchens, and opera singers throw more tantrums in yellow dressing rooms. Be careful how you use it. In practical application, do not paint the walls of a critical task environment yellow. Also, do not use yellow legal pads (but, like coffee, it will give you a quick jolt and temporarily wake your brain up), and do not use yellow as a background on your computer monitor. On the other hand, since yellow is the most visible color of all the colors and is the first color that the human eye notices, use it to get attention, such as a yellow sweater, or combine yellow with black text to create a yard sale sign. Have you noticed yellow fire engines in some cities?

See red?

Perhaps you've used this phrase to mean that you're so angry that you literally see red. Here's a test to see if you really see red. And it will be a bit of magic because you will see the invisible.

Instructions:
1. Make sure the image below fills your computer screen.
2. Look at the image at a distance of 12 inches or 30 centimeters from the screen.
3. Stare at the black dot in the middle of the red rectangle for 30 seconds. Keep your focus on the black dot or the test will not work. *DON'T BLINK*
4. After 30 seconds, shift your focus to the black dot in the middle of the white rectangle. Once again, you must focus on the black dot in the middle of the white square or this will not work.

Begin!

Did you see red? What did you see?

You are not hallucinating. You saw an "after image" and there is a very scientific explanation for it: Your eye is filled with 250,000 color decoding cones. The 83,000 cones that are used to decode red became fatigued and over stimulated when you focused on the red rectangle. Consequently, the opposing cones kicked into action. You probably saw blue or bluish green, somewhat like transparent bluish light or cellophane on the white area. (If you saw nothing, reread the instructions and take the test again.)

The operation of the eye is largely muscular and any excessive activity will tire it out.

Here are some practical examples:
Let's assume that you work on an assembly line and sort red pills 8 hours a day. If the work surface is white, you'll fatigue the eyes and get an after image. If you use a soft muted teal as the work surface color, you'll maximize visual efficiency. "After image" will occur with any color. Imagine what would happen if you were in a monochromatic blue interior. Which color would your eyes be hungry for?

A company* that markets red contact lenses for chickens (at 20 cents a pair), points to medical studies showing that chickens wearing red-tinted contact lenses behave differently from birds that don't. They eat less, produce more and don't fight as much. Perhaps everything looks red and they cannot distinguish combs, wattles, or blood. This decreases aggressive tendencies and birds are less likely to peck at each other causing injury. A spokesman said the lenses will improve world egg-laying productivity by $600 million a year.

Here's a second test. Once again, follow the same instructions:

1. Make sure the image below fills your computer screen.
2. Look at the image at a distance of 8-12 inches or 20-30 centimeters from the screen.
3. Stare at the black dot in the middle of the white star for 30 seconds. Keep your focus on the black dot or the test will not work.*DON'T BLINK*
4. After 30 seconds, shift your focus to the black dot in the middle of the white rectangle. Once again, you must focus, you absolutely must hold your focus on the black dot in the middle of the white square after the 30 seconds pass, or this will not work.

Begin!

What did you see?

This time the issue is color contrast. The difference between white and black creates excessive muscular activity which fatigues the eye. The same thing happens when you try to read white papers on a black or dark desk. You should have seen a gray star on the white square. If you didn't, reread the instructions, and take the test again. Make sure you are close enough to the image.

Here are some practical examples:
If you're in a corporate office, take this theory into the conference room or corporate boardroom. In many instances, you'll find a dark surface, and oftentimes highly lacquered. The desk may have a high tech corporate look but it will not be conducive to the work at hand. It would make your boss iritable, right? As for your private residence, the kitchen is a critical task environment and the same theories apply.

The answer is yes! Think, what color occurs least in Nature? That's right, blue. There are no leafy blue vegetables (blue lettuce?), no blue meats (blueburger, well-done please), and aside from blueberries and a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe, blue just doesn't exist in any significant quantity as a natural food color. Of all the colors in the spectrum, blue is an appetite suppressant. Weight loss plans suggest putting your food on a blue plate. Or even better than that, put a blue light in your refrigerator and watch your munchies disappear. Or here's another tip: Dye your food blue! A little black will make it a double whammy.

Can pink make strong men weak? Do pink jail cells create a calming effect? Is it true that football locker rooms (the ones for the visiting/opposing teams) are painted a certain shade of pink to weaken the players? One of the most interesting examples of color effects is Baker-Miller Pink - a color that's close to bubble gum pink. Also known as "drunk tank pink," this color is used to calm violent prisoners in jails. Even if a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can't. The heart muscles can’t race fast enough. It’s a tranquilizing color that saps your energy. Even the color-blind are tranquilized by pink rooms. University of Hawaii associate head coach George Lumkin was a member of the 1991 staff that saw visitor locker rooms at Iowa and Colorado State painted pink in the belief that the color made players passive. Now the WAC has a rule that a visiting team's locker room can not be painted a different color than the home team's. In other words, it can be pink, black or any color of the rainbow, as long as both locker rooms are the same color.

Just think what our world would be like without color? Color is everything! It makes us happy, sad, relaxed, excited. There's no emotion color doesn't bring to our mind. Color is such an everyday phenomenon that we don't usually give it a lot of thought. There at two types of color - a) the colors of light, and b) the colors of pigment. To make life simple, scientists discovered that only three colors of light are necessary to produce all colors of light. Those three colors are RED, BLUE, AND GREEN. For pigmented colors there's also three colors - YELLOW, CYAN, AND MAGENTA. Look at the diagram below:

Notice the picture to the left. Our existence would be pretty boring if our rainbow of colors were suddenly removed. Here's something to think about, how does a computer deliver color to our eyes? Have you ever looked at a magazine picture through a strong magnifying glass? You will find that it is made up of dots. Here are two pictures of a baby one as if it were a photographic print, and the other as if it were a magazine photo, blown up 200, 400, and 800 times. Take time and notice how the dots blend to make different colors. (Focus on the baby's nose.)

A magazine printing press usually can only print four colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Our eyes and brain put colors together from the colored dots. Printers (and the computers they use to help them) print the dots in special grids that do not overlap. What happens when colors mix? Well, depending on the ratio of the mix, vibrant new colors are formed.

Laser light is created when light waves of the same frequency bounce back and forth between optical mirrors and lenses, amplifying the strength with each cycle. When the beam is powerful enough it is released, almost as if opening a gate, in a short pulse of energy. This burst of energy causes a carefully controlled ray of light. The color and energy of the light depends upon what type of material is being stimulated. Do you remember constructive interference? What happens when the crests and troughs of many waves travel in unision? There's an increase in energy right? In laser light the light waves travel together in a coherent pattern, which means the pattern of light is perfectly straight.

Additional assignments- print and turn in your work, you'll need to install ShockWave:
1. Online Practice Test
2. Interactive Tutor