Magenta: The colour that doesn't exist

When we look at a rainbow, we see a full spectrum of light. Every colour we could imagine. Except one – magenta.

Where is it? Well, officially magenta doesn't exist. There is no wavelength of light for magenta, meaning the human brain literally makes it up, but how?

Video by Archie Crofton

Narrated by Lotte Rice

Commissioned by Paul Ivan Harris

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1 February 2023