Can humans see all the colours? (2024)

Visibility of colours in humans:

1. Cone cells are the photoreceptors responsible for colour vision in humans.
2. They respond differently to lights of different wavelengths.
3. Human beings are referred to as trichromats due to the presence of three types of cone cells.
4. Around one million colours are visible to the human eye.

Colourblindness:

1. This is more common in males than in females.
2. It is a condition in which individuals can only see limited shades of different colours.
3. Some find it difficult to see green, red and blue colours.

Colour visibility in other organisms:

1. Organisms like bees, butterflies, and some birds are tetrachromats, i.e., having four types of cone cells.
2. Tetrachromacy enables them to see around 100 million colors.
3. It is evident that around 99 million colours are invisible to the human eye.
4. Therefore, it can be said that humans cannot see all colours.