Indigo is said to be the renowned color and an imperial part of the
renowned ‘VIBGYOR’ spectrum. For all of us who are not acquainted with
this term, this word 'VIBGYOR' is an acronym of the colors that are being
visible in the rainbow.
What Is Indigo?
It is the dark blue dye obtained from the indigo plant, or one can also
describe it as a color between blue and violet in the spectrum. Well, these
are some of the definitions associated with this word.
The fun fact here is that, the word ‘Indigo’ comes from a Latin name which
means ‘Indian’ and was imported to Europe from India.
Basically, through this article I want everyone to know this interesting yet
infamous controversy about indigo.
What Is This Controversy?
To cut it short, this controversy questions the very existence of indigo as an
independent color.
Basically, Indigo, being a color that’s present between blue and Violent in
the ‘VIBGYOR’ spectrum, is so close and resembles both the colors, that
it’s never really recognized as Indigo. Hence, many people believe that
indigo was never deserving to be it’s own color.
Due to this controversy, there has been speculation that Newton had
included indigo in the color spectrum only in order to have seven colors.
Who Was Questioned?
The founder of this color, the great Newton, was the one who was involved
in this much troubling conversation.
So, for those who do not know about the birth story, I sincerely don’t blame
you guys because before this article I was also sailing in the same boat. So, to level up all of us equal, let’s throw some light on the birth story of this controversial color.
It all started with Newton’s light splitting experiment. This experiment states that when the white light (that we see) when passes through a prism, it separates into 7 colors, 7 different colored lights.
Now, to relate with the start of this article, remember the word ‘VIBGYOR’
that’s an acronym for the name of those seven different colors namely:
Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Green.
Why the Controversy?
Now a general question that arises. Why this controversy? You will say that
Newton experimented, Newton found out the color and Newton put it
forward in front of the world.
What’s the worst that you can expect? Well, the sad part is that now many
people stand against this decision that indigo is an independent color.
Their argument states that there is a color that is caused due to the
diffusion caused between its successor color and predecessor color, which
are violet and blue.
Now, this argument is backend since the wavelength (if you know this then
that’s well and good, if not then don’t worry and enjoy) of this color is
between 425nm to 445nm which is a typically shorter wavelength as
compared to other colors.
Newton and Figure 7
Now, people agree to the fact that Newton was a renowned scientist but
another unpopular opinion says that in identifying these 7 colors, Newton
paid no heed to the scientific trend.
According to people, Newton just followed the 7 trend which was 7 wonders,
7 days a week, 7 births etcetera. So, people assumed that this indigo color is
just another fluke in the list. Well, whatever it is you, all of us use indigo color as a daily part of our life.
Indigo and You
Well, this relation is old and very popular among teens. Whoever you are, I
bet that you have those indigo jeans sitting in your wardrobe. Other than that, there are other instances when you had used indigo color without even thinking whether it’s a part of the spectrum or not.
So in the end, this theory is still not solved and thus, you will hear arguments
from both sides from time to time. And if anyone of you is willing to research and somehow are planning to find an answer to this question, well then, best of luck!
Written by - Yash Bundela
Edited by – Sandhya R
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