The colour yellow can be bright and intense, which is perhaps why it can often invoke such strong feelings. Yellow can quickly grab attention, but it can also be abrasive when overused. It can appear warm and bright, yet it can also lead to visual fatigue.
Yellow is the colour between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575–585 nm. It is a primary colour in subtractive colour systems, used in painting or colour printing. In the RGB colour model, used to create colour on television and computer screens, yellow is a secondary colour made by combining red and green at equal intensity.
Carotenoids give the characteristic yellow colour to autumn leaves, corn, canaries, daffodils, and lemons, as well as egg yolks, buttercups, and bananas. They absorb light energy and protect plants from photo damage in some cases. Sunlight has a slight yellowish hue when the sun is near the horizon, due to atmospheric scattering of shorter wavelengths (green, blue, and violet).
Because it was widely available, yellow ochre pigment was one of the first colours used in art; the Lascaux cave in France has a painting of a yellow horse 17,000 years old.
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Manning River helmeted turtle: On the edgeManning River helmeted turtle: On the edge
Teacher resource: Stage 6 Biology, Module 4: Ecosystem Dynamics