-2
$\begingroup$

A plant with green leaves viewed under red light would appear as which color?

$\endgroup$

4 Answers 4

7
$\begingroup$

A plant with green leaves is green because its leaves reflect mostly in the 520-570 nm range, but leaves are not perfect filters in this sense.

A red light is a light that is primarily emitting light in the 620-740 nm range. Light sources can be designed more perfectly this way, and can be restricted to emitting almost only light in their designed range.

The leaf would appear red-ish, due to some of the red light being reflected by the leaf.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ source of this pic $\endgroup$
    – gandhigcpp
    Oct 25, 2013 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ It's a public domain photo created by NASA, not protected by copyright. $\endgroup$
    – user31346
    Oct 25, 2013 at 18:00
0
$\begingroup$

TL;dr; It would be black.

Somewhat longer:

A green leaf is a leaf which, when illuminated by white light, adsorbs the colour red.

If you illuminate that leaf with red light then all the light might be absorbed.
For more information look up addictive and subtractive colours. RGB and CMYk.

$\endgroup$
0
$\begingroup$

It will appear totally black.When you see an object all colours except the one of the object is absorbed.so in red light green leaf will absorb red and you will practically see nothing.

$\endgroup$
-2
$\begingroup$

The light falling on the surface also determines the colour. If a piece of cloth which appears green in sunlight is viewed under red light it will appear black, because the pigments on the surface of that cloth have the property of reflecting only green light absorbing all other wavelengths falling on it. As red light has only wavelength corresponding to red colour it is completely absorbed and as no colour is reflected back it appears black.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You can see above that this is false. $\endgroup$
    – jinawee
    Feb 5, 2015 at 17:33

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.