The fact that we see a few distinct bands of colour in a rainbow, rather than a smooth and continuous gradient of hues, is sometimes described as an artefact of human colour vision.
- We see bands of colour because the human eye distinguishes between some ranges of wavelengths of visible light better than others.
- It is the interrelationship between light in the world around us on one hand and our eyes on the other that produces the impression of different bands of colour.
- The visible spectrum is made up of a smooth and continuous range of wavelengths that correspond with a smooth and continuous range of hues.
- There is no property belonging to electromagnetic radiation that causes bands of colour to appear to a human observer.