a comprehensive note on chemistry of vision?
604007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyesight
772352
I find it cool for one to know spectroscopy. especially pros in them\nhaving the "ability" to find properties of matter by investigating light, sound, or particles that are emitted, absorbed or scattered by the matter under investigation. its a BIG wow!
94315
To Improve Peoples Eye Vision
1004069
Ignore the above answers they are all horribly wrong. This is a chemistry question.\n\nColors in chemistry are due to two main phenomena. \n\n1. Light Absorption\n2. Charge Transfer\n\n\nFor the first case an electron can be promoted to a higher energy state by absorbing light energy. White light consists of wavelengths (about) 400-800 nanometers. Wavelength is inversly related to frequency which is related to the energy of light. The photonic energy of the light from certain wavelengths is absorbed to promote an electron. The rest of the light is transmitted. This transmitted light is what we see. But also keep in mind that the eye works strangely and we see mixed colors a little different.. I dont know why but just keep it in mind.\n\nThe second phenomena is charge transfer. This occurs when  an electron is transferred from one atom to to another. An example is KMnO4 (which has no d electrons) but is purple! This is because a electron is transferred from the oxygen to the manganese. \n\nAnd there are some other mechanisms for which colors are produced. One of the latest is now understood by a physics professor at ucla. Hes been studying how sound can interact with a bubble to produce light.
72779
A molecule is made up of atoms.
17031
The following is a short review of a book by Jules Davidoff who says there is is significant evidence that color is basic building block of memory. \n\nI quote: "Cognition through Color\nJules Davidoff\n\nA century ago phrenologists described a "bump" for color located just over the eyebrow. Today's modular approach to the organization of the visual cortex is more sophisticated, yet it still holds that there are brain areas dedicated solely to particular aspects of perception. Cognition through Color reviews the current status of investigations of color cognition from the standpoint of modern neuropsychology. It provides clear evidence, based on a large body of empirical study that includes the author's own work on color perception and naming, that color appears to be one of the basic building blocks or modules from which perception is constructed and our memories organized. Davidoff systematically relates this evidence to an explicit model of color cognition from sensation through functional role to naming.\n\nThe original impetus for Cognition through Color came from the investigation of individuals with brain damage. There are, for example, patients who have difficulty in naming colors. More important, despite normal color vision, memory for colors can be "split off" from all aspects of memory for shapes and objects, providing a strong case for the notion of modularity in vision.\n\nDavidoff shows that to understand how color is remembered, we must know how objects are recognized. He observes that the perception of what we call color is, in essence, the study of the surface properties of objects, and he develops a model in which the mental representations for color can be linked to the knowledge of objects. Throughout he emphasizes detailed critical analysis of experimental data in light of current theories of both perception and cognition.\n\nJules Davidoff is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University College of Swansea."\n\nSource: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=5589&ttype=2
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dunnerzplant pretty much has it right.  To give a more basic explanation, the retina has an array of "rods and cones" laid out like pixels on a tv screen, and they are all connected to the visual cortex that has a similar array of perceptive neurons that can piece all fo the signals together as a picture.\n\nDifferent cells in the retina have different chemicals that are sensitive to different colors, or wavelengths of light.  When light of that color strike that cell, the chemical does a slight shape-shift that ignites a mechanism to change the cell's output of neuroreceptors, liek a switch.  Once the light disappears, the photochemical shifts back to its latent state, and the perception of that color also ceases.\n\nIt's pretty cool stuff, really.  Any good Molecular and Cellular Biology textbook will give a good description of how the whole thing works.  I think even a basic college Biology text will give a rudimentary treatment of the subject.
38508
ah, i actually remember thinking that once... i always had a lot of questions like that, always so curious about stuff... that's why im a physics major, it explains so much... actually, while we may not be tasting or smelling the same thing, we are all seeing the same colors.  this is because each color has corrosponding wavelengths and frequencies of light on the electromagnetic spectrum.  Only a very small portion of this spectrum is even visible light, and we all agree on that.  the colors you see from objects are just the wavelenghts of light that are not absorbed by that object, so therefore are reflected. so we are definately all seeing the same frequencies of light... its easier to understand with sound, if you pick different frequencies, it's a higher or lower pitch.  we can all definately agree on the pitches of sound because we can agree on whether or not the pith is higher than another pitch. if you pick a frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum in the visible light range, that frequency will correspond to a certain color. violet is the color with the wavelength of the highest frequency, meaning it has the highest energy(E=hf where h is planck's constant so energy is directly proportional to frequency.) red has the lowest frequency, and therefore energy. the colors go in order of lowest to highest energy as follows: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. it is is definate that what everyone views as violet is what has the highest energy, and what everyone views as red has the lowest.  and the colors as we know them, kind of blend into each other as you go up in energy, like starting with red you can have red orange and keep adding orange till you get to orange, then add some yellow and so on.. the colors blend nicely. if someone viewed lets say green instead of orange... well then red and green wouldnt mix so well now would they? if you think about it, the colors go "up" in energy steadily just as sound goes up in pitch steadily, so we do all view colors the same.  i hope i conveyed my thoughts properly and that made sense :)
938383
Actually, there's a good article in this month's National Geographic that touches on these sorts of questions.  It's called "From Fins to Wings.'"  The relevant text starts on page 121, and starts with Charles Darwin's own acknowledgment of the enormity of explaining a system as complex as the human eye as a result of random mutation and natural selection.\n\nThe discussion goes on to indicate (page 126) that over time, a greater certainty has evolved that photoreceptors in all species are "the handiwork of the same genes that build our own eyes".\n\nIt goes on to say, "Evolution then used these basic genes to fashion more sophisticated eyes, which eventually acquired a lens for turning light into an image."\n\nThere's also a neat series of drawings at the bottom of pages 126-127 that gives an intuitive feel for the discussion.\n\nThere's much more at the link.
75901
A chemical reaction in your brain.
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http://science.howstuffworks.com/film6.htm\nhttp://silvergrain.org/Photo-Tech/chemistry-survival.html\nhttp://silvergrain.org/Photo-Tech/chemistry-survival.html\n\nThese aren't all the greatest but the first one especially looks like what you want.\n\nI googled on "film chemistry" and "darkroom chemistry".
600477
The most acute sight in the eye is in the area called the macula. In that area are the most cells which can show both color and detail. The cones and rods of the eyes contain photo-sensitive chemicals. The chemicals undergo very (very) fast reactions when they react to photons. Still they are chemicals which need constant variety to keep a balance.  When one color is constantly received, the chemical is not maintained in a normal balance. The cell's photo receptors which are NOT activated by the repetitive color recover faster and report a false image to the brain. the macula has enough receivers to keep up with the color signal when you follow the color around the circle. When you look at the center, the cells outside the macula are reporting and there are not enough of them to keep up with the color overload. They gradually run out of the photo chemical and stop reporting the signal. Their recovery rate is a little slower than the rate of the rotating color signal.\nI really enjoyed that demonstration of the workings of the eye! Thanks.
1106171
I can't remember exactly which of the theories it is (Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory or the opponent-process theory), I believe it's the opponent-process theory that explains it though. I'd have to do some figuring to explain it further since that was in the beginning of my AP Psych course.
663295
Chemistry relating to Carbon derivatives.
784997
Here's a quick visualization:\n\nhttp://www.chm.davidson.edu/ChemistryApplets/AtomicOrbitals/hybrid.html
848343
If organic chemistry is your thing, download ITunes and look up Chem 241,242, and 243 from Jean-Claude Bradley.  He goes through everything at a good pace.  If you don't wanna deal with ITunes, try going to chem241.blogspot.com and getting the flash versions, they have sound and picture just like the ipod videos from itunes.\n\nFor other stuff from that class, go to chem241.wikispaces.com for other links and downloads and such.  His class is open to everyone, even though he's at Drexel university.  Whenever you are asked on the wiki, the username is coas, password codrexelas.
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u can visit  this page to see the structure :\nhttp://www.cbu.edu/~seisen/Photosynthesis.htm