Britannica
Sources used in this answer
What range of wavelengths can the human eye detect?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
light
When white light is spread apart by a prism or a diffraction grating, the colours of the visible spectrum appear. The colours vary according to their wavelengths. Violet has the highest frequencies and shortest wavelengths, and red has the lowest frequencies and the longest wavelengths.
The human eye can typically detect light with wavelengths ranging from approximately 400 nanometres (nm) at the violet end of the spectrum to 700 nm at the red end.12
It is important to note that these boundaries are not sharply defined and can vary among individuals. Furthermore, while the range of 400–700 nm is generally accepted for human vision, there is some capacity for extended visibility when observing high-intensity light. This sensitivity is mediated by photoreceptors in the retina known as cones, which allow for colour vision by responding to different portions of this visible range.132