ST. PAUL -- This week we are answering more questions from the Video Kiosk at the Science Museum of Minnesota where you too can ask us a question and we may answer it on KARE-11 TV in our 6 PM Newscast.
QUESTION: How do you see colors?
ANSWER: Well human beings can only see visible light. It's just one form of electromagnet radiation. Ranging from ultraviolet radiation to microwaves and a whole bunch of other things. It's because our eyes process light through the use of cones in the back of our eyes."
QUESTION: How does a rainbow form?
ANSWER: A rainbow is a great example of how our eyes process and view that visible light. Visible light all together is just white or yellow but when it's broken up we see the individual colors. When there's rain or mist in the air it acts like miniature prisms separating out that visible light into the colors of the rainbow we see. For the perfect set up the sun has to be at our back and we have to be looking 45 degrees above the horizon.
QUESTION: Why is grass green?
ANSWER: Grass is yet another great example of how our eyes process light and colors. The reason grass looks green is because that's the only color getting back to our eyes, being literally reflected by the grass. Grass uses chlorophyll like most plants to produce food and that absorbs just the red and blue light leaving green light to get back to us.
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