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AriannahM's picture

Isn't color chemically physical??

When we discussed color in lecture, we said it was a property of our brains and vision and not a physical property. I’ve been thinking about that all week every time I see a vibrant color and something isn’t adding up for me. A couple of weeks ago in organic chemistry we were talking about color. My professor said color is the result of hyper conjugation. Conjugation is when there are double bonds every other bond. When there are multiple conjugated structures put together, the structure is said to be hyper conjugated. This puts the π orbitals close together. The proximity of the orbitals allows visible light to promote electrons which in turn causes “color”. To me, this is a physical property; compounds that are colored are actually hyper conjugated. I understand we only experience the colors because of the way our vision works, but isn’t the property physically there?

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