Brain Pickings

Why Pink Doesn’t Exist: An Illustrated Stop-Motion Science Explanation in 60 Seconds

Pretty in minus-green.

If OK Go’s stop-motion color theory for Sesame Street met mathemagician Vi Hart’s hand-drawn math lessons, you’d get Minute Physics — charming and illuminating hand-illustrated science animations, like this fantastic explanation of how the color pink exists even though pink light doesn’t.

Speaking in terms of light, pink should probably be called ‘minus-green,’ because pink is just the leftovers of white light when you take out the green.”

For more on the curiosities and quirks of the science of perception, don’t forget Mark Changizi’s fascinating The Vision Revolution, which explores why we see the way we do.

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