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Today in Geometry. (Yes, Geometry...tomarrow we have a mid-term....) Anyway, my teacher brought up the subject of stop lights. He asked us why they choose Red for Stop and Green for Go. he said something about blood or something and he just rumbled about how if you go you'll wreck and get blood everywhere or something...he had no idea what he was talking about. I thought the reason why Red was for stop was becuase red (out of the primary and secondary colors) was the color that stood out most. Could someone please tell me why or where I could find why these three colors were chosen for stop lights?
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I'd have thought that the colour which stands out most is the one to which the human eye is most sensitive, namely green...
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captain1
The Red and the Green Stamps
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Just looking from a physics point of view (doesn't answer the question but is interesting none the less)
Red and Green are totally seperate colours (ie they are one of the two primary colours) so even with any form of filter the one cannot be 'seen' as the other. (ie put a yellow filter over a red light you get red.. over a green light you will get green)
Now more interesting is that if you combine red and green you get yellow..
quote:Red and Green are totally seperate colours (ie they are one of the two primary colours) so even with any form of filter the one cannot be 'seen' as the other.
Unless you happen to be red-green colorblind (the most common form of colorblindness).
quote:Red and Green are totally seperate colours (ie they are one of the two primary colours) so even with any form of filter the one cannot be 'seen' as the other. (ie put a yellow filter over a red light you get red.. over a green light you will get green)
Isn't Red, YELLOW, and Blue the three primary colors? or am I confused as usual?
-------------------- "Pardon him. Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature."
George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra
Posts: 4847 | From: Washington, DC | Registered: Jun 2001
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BlueRose
The Red and the Green Stamps
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Yellow (or to be more precise in this case, amber) is actually the most visible of the three lights. Yellow against black actually has more visual impact than white against black, so i was told, and that's why yellow/amber is the caution light.
Blue "red means stop, green means go, yellow means go very fast--anyone know which movie that line's from?" Rose
quote:Originally posted by The Evil Spam Gamgee: I'd have thought that the colour which stands out most is the one to which the human eye is most sensitive, namely green...
No. Just because the eye is most sensitive to green, it's sort of a 'default colour', the one the eye has to do 'less hard' to see; red stands out more because is more 'aggresive' to the eye...
Jaime
-------------------- "Everyone has problems. They only vary in design" - Mama Duck
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Slightly OT: I once got a chance to take a tour of a power plant. The plant control room was filled with little lights indicating the status of various pieces of equipment. I thought they must be in deep sh*t here, because 90 percent of the lights were red.
I later learned that red indicated the equipment was "hot" meaning that is was online and working. Green indicated "cold" meaning that piece of equipment was not in use. Newer control rooms use computer consoles rather than panels of lights.
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