The colour purple doesn't exist; it is only a figment of our brain, which throws up the colour when it is confused. A study suggests that our brain isn't able to comprehend the colours red and blue when they appear together. So the head-scratching event leads the brain to create the colour purple. 

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In scientific terms, red and blue wavelengths lie on two opposite extremes on the spectrum. When both these wavelengths appear in the same place, the brain gets confused. So it bends the spectrum and joins the two colours in a circle to make purple. 

It is not to say the purple isn't real. The colour is there for us to see, but it is created because of a dilemma the brain faces. The acronym VIBGYOR is used to describe all the colours in a rainbow. V stands for violet, but that isn't purple. Violet has its own wavelength of light, but purple doesn't. Violet forms the shortest wavelengths of light on the spectrum and is real, as proven by the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation that causes sunburn.

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The mechanism that lets us see millions of colours involves special cells called cones. There are three types: one for short wavelengths (S cones, which detect blues and violets), one for medium wavelengths (M cones, which detect greens and yellows), and one for long wavelengths (L cones, which detect reds and oranges). Each of these responds to different parts of the visible spectrum.

When light enters our eyes, the matching cones are activated. Signals are sent through the optic nerve to the brain, which processes them and analyses what the person is seeing. The activation of the cones decides which colour the person is seeing. The process also blends the colours to let us see a mix of colours formed by the basic colours, such as turquoise, emerald and so on.

So why isn't purple real?

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One would argue that shouldn't the same theory should apply to the colour purple. Well, it doesn't. This is because of the position of the red and blue wavelengths. As said above, they lie on opposite sides of the spectrum and going by the scientific way we see colours, logic says they shouldn't be able to blend.

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But the brain found a solution to the problem. When S cones (blue/violet light) and L cones (red light) are activated, instead of rejecting them, the brain bends the visible light spectrum into a circle so that red and blue/violet can meet, resulting in purple. 

Purple is a universally loved colour. To love something that isn't real might be perceived as crazy, but not in this case. We LOVE PURPLE!!!