Re: [Phys-l] refraction question

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

> Seems like pretty good evidence that it is the same color.  Which
> indicates that color may indeed be a frequency property.
I would think that frequency dependence is obvious from the fact that it is
a resonant phenomenon with a range of frequencies that depend on the
particular chemical dye in the cone.  It is not just an energy phenomenon in
the sense that there is a threshold energy, because there is also a maximum
energy and it exhibits tails in response.

So the proper association should be with frequency when one is talking
macroscopically, but this could be extended to energy when talking about
individual photons.  But many tables give the association between color and
wavelength which confounds the better association.  One has to realize that
this is the value as measured in vacuum or air (near vacuum).  Unfortunately
students don't often make these kinds of distinctions.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX