Rainbows are delightful sights of nature that can be witnessed when we have rain and sun at the same time.
The rainbow has been reproduced by artists and individuals for many years, all with varying symbols or meanings, but have you noticed that we can’t see the color pink in a rainbow?
But is pink in the rainbow somewhere? Is every color we see present in this beautiful act of nature?
In this article, we will explore if pink exists in the rainbow.
Is the color pink actually in the rainbow?
The rainbow that is created by nature does not contain the color pink… sort of.
You may have seen drawings or paintings containing pink in the rainbow, but this is all fictional.
In this order, the rainbow contains red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
To put it simply, pink is not in the rainbow because violet and red are at opposite ends.
The color pink is created from mixing red and violet; therefore, pink can’t exist because red and violet don’t meet within the rainbow.
Although this is a simplified explanation, there is a lot of science behind why we see certain colors.
Why isn’t pink in the rainbow?
We know that pink is made from red and violet, and as they are on opposite sides of the rainbow and never meet, pink is never seen.
A rainbow is caused when there are sun and rain at one given time in the same place, but it can only be visible when the sun is behind you, and the rain is in front.
When it rains, the tiny droplets of rain refract the sun’s light, breaking it down into seven colors of the spectrum.
Sunlight is known as white light, and it is a mixture of all visible colors, so when it is dispersed through the rain droplets, we see these colors.
The colors projected into a rainbow are from the visible spectrum, and these are colors that have their own wavelength.
Pink is nonexistent in the visible spectrum as it is a mix of colors; it does not have its own wavelength.
Is pink an actual color?
There have been many arguments as to whether pink is a real color or is made up.
Robert Krulwich of the radio show Radio Lab wrote a blog explaining how pink is a color made up by humans.
He explains that a band of wavelengths that mix red and violet does not exist, making the color pink part of our imagination.
Because it doesn’t have its own wavelength, it is not an official color.
However, many scientists and lovers of the color pink have opposed this acquisition, exclaiming that pink, like every other color, is a fabrication of our brains.
Biologist Timothy H. Goldsmith explained that our brains create all colors, so who is to say what is an official color or not.
“Color is not actually a property of light or of objects that reflect light. It is a sensation that arises within the brain.”
What other colors aren’t in the rainbow?
As well as pink being nonexistent in the rainbow, brown, black, and white are also not present.
This is because brown is made from mixing green and red, which, similarly to pink, those two colors never touch; therefore, brown will never be seen in a rainbow.
We don’t see white in the rainbow as the sun is white light, and it is the white light that is turning into the colors.
Black is not seen as the color black is the absence of all other colors.
There are plenty of colors in the rainbow that we can’t see, but it doesn’t mean that they are not there.
There are colors produced from the ultra-violet and infrared light within the rainbow, which the human eye cannot see naturally.
In Conclusion
Although our eyes will pick up color shades differently, we will all see the same colors in the rainbow.
We don’t see pink because it doesn’t have its own wavelength and is a mixture of red and violets wavelengths.
If red and violet were in contact with the rainbow, perhaps we would see pink, but this will never happen because of how light is refracted.
