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I just asked my 6 year-old this question. — What color is the sun? — White. (pauses...) But some people color it yellow. — Why is that? — I don't know, beca

I just asked my 6 year-old this question. — What color is the sun? — White. (pauses...) But some people color it yellow. — Why is that? — I don't know, because it's a bright color. (shrugs and runs off to play) It dawned on my that when drawing on a white piece of paper, it's not exactly easy to draw a white object without resorting to inverse video (coloring the blue sky in such a way as to leave a spot that represents the sun).

lern_too_spel 6y ago
In the blue sky, the sun will be perceived as yellow, not white. Painting it as white would be just as wrong as painting grass hot pink. https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/what-color-sun https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/what-color-sun
- cmroanirgo 6y ago
  From the nasa link: > * it emits most of its energy around 500 nm, which is close to blue-green light. So one might say that the sun is blue-green! * Fantastic!
  - AndrewThrowaway 6y ago
    https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/tutorials/photosensors/img/spectralgraph.jpg https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/tutorials/photosensor... So human eye is more sensitive to the same wavelengths the Sun emits more! So it all evens out and the Sun only appears white! That's why we define white as white as this is "lit by the Sun / reflects all sunlight" - our only source of light for many years. So if e.g. dog's eye is sensitive to different wavelengths it should see the Sun in different color? But then again, a dog should call it "white" as this is what you would call "lit by sun" as opposed as e.g. "lit by fire". Fascinating!
- grawprog 6y ago
  But grass is sometimes hot pink: https://www.plantingtree.com/products/pink-muhly-grass https://www.plantingtree.com/products/pink-muhly-grass
- fallingfrog 6y ago
  More likely the only time that people look at the sun is at sunset because it’s so bright. But at midday it’s white.

lern_too_spel 6y ago

In the blue sky, the sun will be perceived as yellow, not white. Painting it as white would be just as wrong as painting grass hot pink. https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/what-color-sun https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/what-color-sun

cmroanirgo 6y ago
From the nasa link: > * it emits most of its energy around 500 nm, which is close to blue-green light. So one might say that the sun is blue-green! * Fantastic!
- AndrewThrowaway 6y ago
  https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/tutorials/photosensors/img/spectralgraph.jpg https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/NLPIP/tutorials/photosensor... So human eye is more sensitive to the same wavelengths the Sun emits more! So it all evens out and the Sun only appears white! That's why we define white as white as this is "lit by the Sun / reflects all sunlight" - our only source of light for many years. So if e.g. dog's eye is sensitive to different wavelengths it should see the Sun in different color? But then again, a dog should call it "white" as this is what you would call "lit by sun" as opposed as e.g. "lit by fire". Fascinating!
grawprog 6y ago
But grass is sometimes hot pink: https://www.plantingtree.com/products/pink-muhly-grass https://www.plantingtree.com/products/pink-muhly-grass
fallingfrog 6y ago
More likely the only time that people look at the sun is at sunset because it’s so bright. But at midday it’s white.