Summary
Overview
In this Field Notes episode, Michael Stevens shares his latest obsession: organizing a collection of 152 Crayola crayons by color theory. This deep dive into color leads to fascinating discussions about how cameras can't capture fluorescent colors, why purple doesn't exist in the electromagnetic spectrum, and the strange physics behind everyday phenomena like tea leaves clustering in the center of a cup and whether water can be "more wet."
Michael's Crayon Obsession and the Color Wheel Mystery
Michael reveals his newest fascination: organizing 152 distinct Crayola crayon colors, which has led him down a rabbit hole of color theory. He's created detailed swatches on special paper, mapping out gradients and attempting to understand the relationship between different hues. This obsession raises a fundamental question: why do artists use a color wheel when the electromagnetic spectrum is clearly a line? The answer lies in how our brains perceive color and a fascinating truth about purple.
- Michael acquired 152 Crayola crayons from his mother and became obsessed with organizing them by color theory
- The crayons don't come ordered by color theory but by product SKUs (8-pack, 16-pack, 24-pack combined)
- Michael had to buy special paper to create color swatches and learn proper color theory
- The electromagnetic spectrum is a line, yet artists use a color wheel - raising the question of why
" I've had to get special paper to do swatches because I'm looking at the wax going okay but what is the difference between scarlet and red "
Purple Doesn't Exist: The Color That's All in Your Head
The reason color forms a wheel instead of staying a line is that purple and magenta are not spectral colors - they don't physically exist in the electromagnetic spectrum. Human eyes have three types of cones for detecting short, medium, and long wavelengths. When both short (violet) and long (red) wavelengths hit our eyes simultaneously, our brains create the experience of purple to fill the gap. Purple is purely a psychological phenomenon, a mental construct that allows the color spectrum to connect back on itself in a wheel.
- Human eyes only have three types of cones: short, medium, and long wavelength detectors
- Purple occurs when eyes receive both short (violet) and long (red) wavelengths simultaneously
- Our brains create purple as a psychological phenomenon because it can't give us 'middle' (green) when short and long cones fire together
- Purple/magenta is not a spectral color with physical wavelength properties like violet is
" Purple does not exist. Our brains have created a color that does not physically exist. And it is the color purple or magenta. That is purely a psychological phenomenon, not a spectral color. "
" In between the violet and the red, we have a combo that we experience as a mental construct. And that is purple or magenta type colors. "
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