Your baby is growing, actively exploring the world and daily surprises with new achievements. You read and heard a lot about the earlier development of children and pay close attention to this topic. All people are born with approximately the same abilities, says Japanese scientist Shinichi Suzuki, their education makes them different.

Any child is able to grow up intelligent and capable, if for development he is given what is required and, most importantly, at a certain time. The lessons of dancing, violin and English in early childhood are not at all in order to grow a genius violinist, linguist or dancer from a child, but in order to give an impetus to the development of its limitless potential possibilities. The baby’s brain is actually clear sheet paper, and from what will be originally drawn on this sheet, it depends on how widely the potential of the child is revealed. Below we will talk about how to start small - remember with your child the colors of the rainbow in order.

When to start training?

To determine the answer to this question, we turn to physiology. The human brain has about one and a half billion cells, but in infants more than half of them are not involved. Most connections between brain cells are built during the first three years of a child’s life. Thinking, creativity, feelings, develop after three years, but the basis for this should be created from birth.

Briefly summarizing - if you do not lay the foundation for future abilities in time, then there will be nothing to develop. Thus, starting from the age of three, it is advisable to teach the child simple and useful basic knowledge about the world around him.

So how to help your child remember the colors of the rainbow?

To move on to remembering the rainbow spectrum, colors, as such, should already be mastered by the child. The colors of the rainbow in the spectrum have the following order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue, violet. One of the most common ways to memorize a series of words or numbers is to connect them within the meaning of the text, sing or rhyme. There are a lot of poems and counters on the theme of the rainbow spectrum. About the hunter who wants to know, and about the ringer who knocked the flashlight off - these are the well-known ways to remember the location of the colors of the rainbow. You can choose what you like with your child and start learning. We offer our version of the rhymed sequence:

What a wonder, look
The rainbow is ahead!
Red color reminds
Tie on the chest.
Color orange like leaves
In the park beyond the pond
Yellow, he is like the sun
And burns with fire
In the center of the rainbow is green
In the core itself
Like a child thoughtless
In the arms of mom.
Blue sky will change
Blue clouds
The night will come on
Purple outfit.

The practice of remembering flowers by the principle of photographing

Take markers (or pencils) and collect from them a rainbow spectrum. Repeat the verse with your child or any other little account about the colors of the rainbow that you like most, pointing to each of the colors in the sequence. Looking at the felt-tip pens, the child visually remembers the sequence, supported by an associative audio series.

Invite the child to remember the order of the felt-tip pens laid out in front of him. When the child is ready, let him close his eyes, and you remove one of the flowers. The child is tasked with remembering what color is missing. At the same time, he begins to use his memory, losing the lesson you just repeated and determines (or not) the missing color.

To consolidate the results, you can complicate the task: remove one of the colors and mix the felt-tip pens. We suggest collecting a rainbow on the table and determining what color is missing. But do not demand from the child everything at once. Do not forget that the main thing is that the learning process brings pleasure to both of you.

The practice of memorizing on the principle of repetition cycles

Children absorb information very quickly, but also quickly forget. You can extend the validity of the memory by periodically repeating the information, and with increasing intervals of time. More cycles of repetition, better fixation in memory. Remember the little song from childhood, “Ladushki-Ladushki. Where were you? By Grandma!". The same with the rainbow - again and again return to this topic with your child in various game forms. Take, for example, watercolor or finger paints, remember the sequence together and draw a rainbow on a piece of paper. Put the picture in a frame on the wall and this visual image will automatically work as a repetition of a previously learned "lesson" about a rainbow.

At the physical level, it works like this: after cycles of repetition and practical application, the brain determines the information as important and moves it from cell to cell of long-term storage.

Yawn, chew, dance and remember

Yes Yes. Yawning activates the supply of oxygen to brain cells. Chewing briefly increases the ability to perceive. This effect is also associated with the fact that when chewing insulin is produced, which enhances the absorption of glucose, which means brain nutrition. Dancing, or any other physical activity, enhances the metabolism in cells, and the brain as well. So feel free to take active breaks in learning and memorizing anything, and after active games, repeat the learned material again.

Do not forget the most important thing - positive emotions and a positive attitude! In stress, under duress, the memory of a young child is blocked - this is a protective reaction of the child's psyche from external threats. Choose the right time for classes, make sure that the child is comfortable and in a good mood. The children's brain is inquisitive - this is the main rule from which you need to build on when starting to educate the child. Be patient, creative, share the joy of learning together with each other. You will undoubtedly be satisfied with the results of this approach.

We no longer thought that someday we would return to this topic, namely, how many colors does the rainbow have?

It all started with the most famous memo about the fact that "Every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits."

We then collected a whole collection of different versions of this memo - and about the hunter, and for programmers, and Belarusian, and Ukrainian and many others. There were so many of them that we even opened in our Encyclopedia

And then it turned out that not all nations have 7 colors in the rainbow. Some have six, in particular in America, and there are those with only 4. In general, the question is not at all simple, as it might seem at first glance

And as it often happens on the vast expanses of the Internet, an article was found on this topic. It was written so interesting that we could not resist and decided to republish it at home so that our readers could also get acquainted with it.

How many colors does the rainbow drink

... when you see a rainbow, do not separate yourself from it

when you see a beautiful sunset, become it

this mind shares

in fact, stars dotted in the sky

are within us, and we are within them

there is no separation

there is no border ...

The phrase “every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits” has been known to everyone since childhood. This mnemonic device, the so-called acrophonic method of memorization, is designed to memorize a sequence of rainbow colors. Here, each word of the phrase begins with the same letter as the name of the color: each \u003d red, hunter \u003d orange, etc. In the same way, those who were initially confused in the sequence of colors of the Russian flag realized that the KGB abbreviation (from bottom to top) was suitable for its description and was no longer confused.

Such mnemonics are absorbed by the brain rather at the level of so-called “conditioning”, and not just training. Considering that people, like all other animals, are terrible conservatives, then any information stuck in the head from childhood is very difficult for many to change, or even simply blocked from a critical approach. For example, Russian children from school know that there are seven colors in a rainbow. This is jagged, familiar, and many sincerely wonder how it turns out that in some countries the number of colors of the rainbow can be completely different. But the seemingly certain statements “there are seven colors in the rainbow”, as well as “24 hours in the day” are just products of human imagination that have nothing to do with nature. One of those cases when arbitrary fiction becomes for many a "reality".

The rainbow has always been seen differently in different periods of history and in different nations. It distinguished between three primary colors, and four, and five, and as many as needed. Aristotle identified only three colors: red, green, purple. The Australian Aboriginal Rainbow Serpent was six-color. In Congo, a rainbow is represented by six snakes - by the number of colors. Some African tribes see only two colors in the rainbow - dark and light.

So where did the notorious seven colors come from in the rainbow? This is just that rare case when the source is known to us. Although the phenomenon of the rainbow was explained by the refraction of the sun's rays in raindrops back in 1267, Roger Bacon, only Newton thought of analyzing the light and, refracting the ray of light through a prism, at first counted five colors: red, yellow, green, blue, purple (he called it purple ) Then the scientist looked closely - and saw six flowers. But the number six did not appeal to believing Newton. Not otherwise than demonic obsession. And the scientist “spotted” another color. The number seven suited him: an ancient and mystical number - here are seven days of the week, and seven deadly sins. The seventh color of Newton got indigo. So Newton became the father of a seven-color rainbow. True, his very idea of \u200b\u200bthe white spectrum as a combination of color, at that time, not everyone liked it. Even the outstanding German poet Goethe was indignant, calling Newton's statement “a monstrous assumption.” It cannot be that the most transparent, purest white color turned out to be a mixture of “dirty” colored rays! Nevertheless, over time, I had to admit the scientist was right.

The division of the spectrum into seven colors took root, and in english language The following memo appeared - Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (In - for blue indigo). And over time, they forgot about indigo and there were six colors. So, in the words of J. Baudrillard (although said in a completely different way), “the model became the primary reality, hyper-reality, turning the whole world into Disneyland.”

Now our "magical Disneyland" is very diverse. Russians hoarse will argue about a seven-color rainbow. American children are taught the six primary colors of the rainbow. English (German, French, Japanese) too. But still harder. Besides the difference in the number of colors, there is another problem - the colors are not the same. The Japanese, like the British, are sure that there are six colors in the rainbow. And with joy they will be called: red, orange, yellow, blue, blue and purple. Where did the green go? Nowhere, it is simply not in Japanese. The Japanese, rewriting Chinese characters, lost the green character (in Chinese it is). Now in Japan there is no green color, which leads to funny incidents. A Russian specialist working in Japan complained about how he once had to search a blue folder for a long time on a table. In a prominent place lay only green. Which the Japanese see blue. And not because they are color blind, but because in their language there is no such color as green. That is, it seems to be there, but it’s a shade of blue, as we have scarlet - a shade of red. Now, under external influence, of course, there is a green color (midori) - but from their point of view it is such a shade of blue (aoi). That is not the primary color. So they get blue cucumbers, blue folders and the blue color of the traffic light.

The British will agree with the Japanese on the number of colors, but not on the composition. The English in the language (and in other Romance languages) do not have a blue color. And if there is no word, then there is no color. Of course, they are also not color blind, and they distinguish blue from blue, but for them it is simply “light blue” - that is, not the main one. So the Englishman would look for the mentioned folder even longer.

Thus, the perception of colors depends only on a particular culture. And thinking in a particular culture is highly dependent on language. The question of “rainbow colors” is not from the realm of physics and biology. Linguistics, and even broader - philology, should be engaged in it, since the colors of the rainbow depend only on the language of communication, there is nothing a priori physical behind them. The spectrum of light is continuous, and its arbitrarily selected sections ("colors") can be called anything you like - those words that are in the language. There are seven colors in the rainbow of the Slavic peoples only because there is a separate name for blue (cf. with the British) and for green (cf. with the Japanese).

But this does not end the problem of colors, in life it is still more confusing. In the Kazakh language, for example, the rainbow is seven-color, but the colors themselves do not coincide with the Russians. The color that is translated into Russian as blue is in the Kazakh perception a mixture of blue with green, yellow is a mixture of yellow with green. That is, what is considered a mixture of colors among Russians is considered an independent color among Kazakhs. American orange is by no means our orange, but often rather red (in our understanding). By the way, in the case of the color of the hairstyle, on the contrary, red is red. The same with old languages \u200b\u200b- L. Gumilyov wrote about the difficulties of identifying colors in Turkic texts with Russians, for example, “sary” - this can be both the color of gold and the color of leaves, because It occupies part of the “Russian yellow” range and part of the “Russian green”.

Colors also change from time to time. In the Kiev textbook of 1073 it is written: "In a rainbow, properties are the essence of red, and blue, and green, and crimson." Then, as we see, in Russia in the rainbow four colors were distinguished. But what are these colors? Now we would understand them as red, blue, green and red. But it was not always so. For example, what we call white wine was called green wine in antiquity. Crimson could mean any dark color, and even black. And the word red was not color at all, but originally denoted beauty, and in this sense the “red girl” was preserved in combination.

How many colors are there in the rainbow? This question makes almost no sense. The wavelengths of visible light (in the range 400-700 nm) can be called what convenient colors - they, the waves, this is not warm and not cold. In a real rainbow, of course, an infinite number of “colors” is the full spectrum, and you can select as many as you like from this spectrum of “colors” (conditional, linguistic colors, for which we can come up with words).

An even more correct answer would be: not at all, in the nature of flowers does not exist at all - only our imagination creates the illusion of color. R.A. Wilson on this occasion loved to quote an old Zen koan: “Who is the Master who makes grass green?” Buddhists have always understood this. The colors of the rainbow are created by the same Master. And he can create them in completely different ways. As someone noted: "steelmakers distinguish a lot of shades in the transition from yellow to red ..."

The same Wilson noted the following moment: “Do you know that an orange is“ in reality ”blue? It absorbs blue light that passes through its peel. But we see the orange exactly “orange”, because there is no orange light in it. Orange light bounces off its skin and hits the retina of our eyes. The “essence” of the orange is blue, but we do not see it; orange is in our brains, and we see it. Who is the Master who makes an orange an orange? ”

Osho wrote about the same thing: “Each ray of light consists of seven colors of the rainbow. Your clothes are red for one strange reason. They are not red. Your clothes absorb six colors from a ray of light - all except red. Red is reflected back. The remaining six are absorbed. As red reflects, it falls into the eyes of other people, so they see your clothes in red. This is a very controversial situation: your clothes are not red, that’s why they seem red. ” Note that for Osho, the rainbow is seven-color, although he already lived in “six-color” America.

From the point of view of modern biology, a person sees three colors in a rainbow, because a person perceives shades by three types of cells. Physiologically, according to modern concepts, healthy people should distinguish three colors: red, green, blue (Red, Green, Blue - RGB). In addition to cells that respond only to brightness, some cones in the human eye selectively respond to the wavelength. Biologists have identified color-sensitive cells (cones) of three types - the same RGB. Three colors are enough for us enough to create any shade. The rest of the endless set of different intermediate shades is completed by the brain, based on the ratios of irritation of these three types of cells. Is this the final answer? Not really, it’s also just a convenient model (In “reality”, the sensitivity of the eye to blue color significantly lower than to green and red).

Thais, like us, are taught at school that there are seven colors in the rainbow. The veneration of the number seven arose in ancient times due to the knowledge by mankind of then known to him seven celestial bodies (moon, sun and five planets). Hence the seven-day week appeared in Babylon. Every day corresponded to his planet. This system was borrowed by the Chinese and spread further. The number seven became almost sacred over time, each day of the week had its own god. The Christian "six-day" with an additional weekend Sunday (in Russian originally just called "week" - from "do not") spread throughout the world. So it is unlikely that Newton could “open” a different number of colors in the rainbow.

But in everyday life, the number of perceived flowers among Thais depends on their place of residence. The city will soon be the official number - seven. And in the province - in different ways. Moreover, the colors of the rainbow can vary even in neighboring villages. For example, in some settlements in the northeast there are two orange colors “catfish” and “gray”. The second word means something like "more orange." As in the case, say, with the Chukchi, who have more in the language different names for white, since they have long distinguished shades of white snow, the selection of Thais as a separate color is not accidental. In those places, a beautiful Dokjan flower grows on trees, the color of which differs from the usual orange color “catfish”. In the dictionary, you most likely will not find this word. But about this flower can be heard in Thai songs in the Spanish language:

“I really miss Isan, miss the flowers of Dokjan Tung Lulai”

“Forest flame”, “Fire of the forest” - under this name the flower “dokjan” of the color “gray” is usually known. And what color would we use in Russian, describing this flower?

After the rain, both adults and children peer into the sky: what if a rainbow appears? People of all ages with trepidation and joy admire this unusual phenomenon - bright stripes of 7 colors, stretching across the sky across the horizon. In ancient times, people believed that a rainbow appears according to God's will, as proof of its existence. Children think that stripes in the sky appear from nowhere, as if in a fairy tale. But adult readers of the portal know for sure that the appearance of the rainbow is explained by the physical laws of nature and this is just an optical illusion.

How does a rainbow appear?

Physicists, observing the refraction of light in water droplets, with mathematical precision derived equations that reveal the mechanism of formation of this natural phenomenon. The knowledge of optical laws made it possible to prove that for the appearance of a rainbow, it is important not only the presence of drops of rain water and then the appearance of the sun, which is low above the horizon, but also the position of the observer with his back to the star.

Rainbow colors in the correct order. Figure Vasilisa Batmanova, 8 years old, especially for

The stream of sunlight, reaching the surface of the water, refracts and splits the white rays of the sun into a color spectrum, and it consists of 7 primary colors. Red, orange, yellow make up warm shades, green is borderline, and cyan, blue, and violet are cold. It is in this order that the rainbow colors are arranged.

In this case, red is external, and violet is internal. Often the rainbow is depicted in the reverse order, but this is not true. Although, the reverse order of colors is also possible - in the rainbow-understudy, about which a little lower.

During rain, a ray of sun illuminates the raindrop and penetrates into it, refracting on the colors of the spectrum. The wall of a drop of water has a dense structure, reaching which the light flux is reflected in the opposite direction. This causes even greater refraction. From the place of penetration of the sun's beam, a stream of the rainbow spectrum breaks out. Since the observer is standing with his back to the shining Sun, and facing the rain, he sees the refracted sunlight reflected by billions of drops of rainwater.

The colors of the rainbow in the reverse order of the “second” rainbow. Figure Margosha Batmanova, 6 years old, specially for

Sometimes in the sky you can observe at the same time not one, but two rainbows. Moreover, the second is not so bright or barely visible in the sky. Her colors also consist of 7 shades, but are located in an inverted state: from purple to red. The appearance of the “double” is easily explained from the point of view of optics: light rays are reflected in a drop of water repeatedly - that is where a rainbow-doubler appears.

Man is always interested in natural phenomena that are visible, but they cannot be touched: fog, evaporation of moisture, rainbow. They seem to be a manifestation of a miracle, something unusual, having a divine origin, but in fact their occurrence is proved by science.

What is a rainbow?

Rainbow is an amazing and incredibly beautiful meteorological and optical a natural phenomenon. It can be observed mainly after rain, when the sun comes out. It is this that is the reason that we can see this wonderful phenomenon in the sky, as well as discern the colors of the rainbow, arranged in order.

A rainbow appears due to the fact that light emanating from the sun or from another source is refracted in droplets of water slowly falling to the ground. With their help, the white light "breaks", forming the colors of the rainbow. They are arranged in order due to different degrees of light deviation (for example, red light is deflected less degrees than violet). Moreover, a rainbow may also appear due to moonlight, but it is very difficult for our eye to distinguish it in low light. In the formation of the circle, which forms the "heavenly bridge", the center is always on a straight line passing through the Sun or the Moon. For those who observe this phenomenon from the earth, this "bridge" appears in the form of an arc. But the higher the viewpoint, the more the rainbow is seen. If you watch it from the mountain or from the air, it can appear before your eyes in the form of a whole circle.

Rainbow color order

Many people know a phrase that allows you to remember in which order the colors of the rainbow are located. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, let’s recall how this line sounds: “Every Hunter Wants to Know Where the Pheasant Sits” (by the way, now there are many analogues to this famous monostic, more modern, and sometimes very funny). The colors of the rainbow in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, blue and purple.

These colors do not change their location, capturing in memory the eternal appearance of such an incredibly beautiful phenomenon. The rainbow that we often observe is primary. When it forms, white light undergoes only one internal reflection. In this case, the red light is outside, as we used to see. However, a secondary rainbow may also form. This is a rather rare phenomenon in which white light is reflected twice in drops. In this case, the colors of the rainbow are already in order in the opposite direction (from purple to red). In this case, the part of the sky that is between these two arcs becomes darker. In places with very clean air, you can even see a “triple” rainbow.

Fancy rainbows

In addition to the usual rainbow in the form of an arc, one can observe its other forms. For example, you can observe lunar rainbows (but it is difficult for the human eye to catch them, for this the glow from the moon should be very bright), foggy, circular (these phenomena have already been mentioned above) and even turned upside down. In addition, the rainbow can be observed in winter. At this time of the year, it sometimes occurs due to severe frosts. But some of these phenomena have nothing to do with "heavenly bridges." Very often, halo phenomena are mistaken for a rainbow (the so-called luminous ring that forms around a certain object).

As it turned out, not all nations have 7 colors in the rainbow. Some have six, in particular in America, and there are only four of them. In general, the question is not at all simple, as it might seem at first glance

And as it often happens on the vast expanses of the Internet, an article was found on this topic. It was written so interesting that I could not resist and decided to republish it at home so that everyone could get acquainted with it.

The phrase “every hunter wants to know where the pheasant sits” has been known to everyone since childhood. This mnemonic device, the so-called acrophonic method of memorization, is designed to memorize a sequence of rainbow colors. Here, each word of the phrase begins with the same letter as the name of the color: each \u003d red, hunter \u003d orange, etc. In the same way, those who were initially confused in the sequence of colors of the Russian flag realized that the KGB abbreviation (from bottom to top) was suitable for its description and was no longer confused.
Such mnemonics are absorbed by the brain rather at the level of so-called “conditioning”, and not just training. Considering that people, like all other animals, are terrible conservatives, then any information stuck in the head from childhood is very difficult for many to change, or even simply blocked from a critical approach. For example, Russian children from school know that there are seven colors in a rainbow. This is jagged, familiar, and many sincerely wonder how it turns out that in some countries the number of colors of the rainbow can be completely different. But the seemingly certain statements “there are seven colors in the rainbow”, as well as “24 hours in the day” are just products of human imagination that have nothing to do with nature. One of those cases when arbitrary fiction becomes for many a "reality".

The rainbow has always been seen differently in different periods of history and in different nations. It distinguished between three primary colors, and four, and five, and as many as needed. Aristotle identified only three colors: red, green, purple. The Australian Aboriginal Rainbow Serpent was six-color. In Congo, a rainbow is represented by six snakes - by the number of colors. Some African tribes see only two colors in the rainbow - dark and light.

So where did the notorious seven colors come from in the rainbow? This is just that rare case when the source is known to us. Although the phenomenon of the rainbow was explained by the refraction of the sun's rays in raindrops back in 1267, Roger Bacon, only Newton thought of analyzing the light and, refracting the ray of light through a prism, at first counted five colors: red, yellow, green, blue, purple (he called it purple ) Then the scientist looked closely - and saw six flowers. But the number six did not appeal to believing Newton. Not otherwise than demonic obsession. And the scientist “spotted” another color. The number seven suited him: an ancient and mystical number - here are seven days of the week, and seven deadly sins. The seventh color of Newton got indigo. So Newton became the father of a seven-color rainbow. True, his very idea of \u200b\u200bthe white spectrum as a combination of color, at that time, not everyone liked it. Even the outstanding German poet Goethe was indignant, calling Newton's statement “a monstrous assumption.” It cannot be that the most transparent, purest white color turned out to be a mixture of “dirty” colored rays! Nevertheless, over time, I had to admit the scientist was right.

The division of the spectrum into seven colors took root, and the following memo appeared in English - Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (In - for blue indigo). And over time, they forgot about indigo and there were six colors. So, in the words of J. Baudrillard (although said in a completely different way), “the model became the primary reality, hyper-reality, turning the whole world into Disneyland.”

Now our "magical Disneyland" is very diverse. Russians hoarse will argue about a seven-color rainbow. American children are taught the six primary colors of the rainbow. English (German, French, Japanese) too. But still harder. Besides the difference in the number of colors, there is another problem - the colors are not the same. The Japanese, like the British, are sure that there are six colors in the rainbow. And with joy they will be called: red, orange, yellow, blue, blue and purple. Where did the green go? Nowhere, it is simply not in Japanese. The Japanese, rewriting Chinese characters, lost the green character (in Chinese it is). Now in Japan there is no green color, which leads to funny incidents. A Russian specialist working in Japan complained about how he once had to search a blue folder for a long time on a table. In a prominent place lay only green. Which the Japanese see blue. And not because they are color blind, but because in their language there is no such color as green. That is, it seems to be there, but it’s a shade of blue, as we have scarlet - a shade of red. Now, under external influence, of course, there is a green color (midori) - but from their point of view it is such a shade of blue (aoi). That is not the primary color. So they get blue cucumbers, blue folders and the blue color of the traffic light.

The British will agree with the Japanese on the number of colors, but not on the composition. The English in the language (and in other Romance languages) do not have a blue color. And if there is no word, then there is no color. Of course, they are also not color blind, and they distinguish blue from blue, but for them it is simply “light blue” - that is, not the main one. So the Englishman would look for the mentioned folder even longer.

Thus, the perception of colors depends only on a particular culture. And thinking in a particular culture is highly dependent on language. The question of “rainbow colors” is not from the realm of physics and biology. Linguistics, and even broader - philology, should be engaged in it, since the colors of the rainbow depend only on the language of communication, there is nothing a priori physical behind them. The spectrum of light is continuous, and its arbitrarily selected sections ("colors") can be called anything you like - those words that are in the language. There are seven colors in the rainbow of the Slavic peoples only because there is a separate name for blue (cf. with the British) and for green (cf. with the Japanese).

But this does not end the problem of colors, in life it is still more confusing. In the Kazakh language, for example, the rainbow is seven-color, but the colors themselves do not coincide with the Russians. The color that is translated into Russian as blue is in the Kazakh perception a mixture of blue with green, yellow is a mixture of yellow with green. That is, what is considered a mixture of colors among Russians is considered an independent color among Kazakhs. American orange is by no means our orange, but often rather red (in our understanding). By the way, in the case of the color of the hairstyle, on the contrary, red is red. The same with old languages \u200b\u200b- L. Gumilyov wrote about the difficulties of identifying colors in Turkic texts with Russians, for example, “sary” - this can be both the color of gold and the color of leaves, because It occupies part of the “Russian yellow” range and part of the “Russian green”.

Colors also change from time to time. In the Kiev textbook of 1073 it is written: "In a rainbow, properties are the essence of red, and blue, and green, and crimson." Then, as we see, in Russia in the rainbow four colors were distinguished. But what are these colors? Now we would understand them as red, blue, green and red. But it was not always so. For example, what we call white wine was called green wine in antiquity. Crimson could mean any dark color, and even black. And the word red was not color at all, but originally denoted beauty, and in this sense the “red girl” was preserved in combination.

How many colors are there in the rainbow? This question makes almost no sense. The wavelengths of visible light (in the range 400-700 nm) can be called what convenient colors - they, the waves, this is not warm and not cold. In a real rainbow, of course, an infinite number of “colors” is the full spectrum, and you can select as many as you like from this spectrum of “colors” (conditional, linguistic colors, for which we can come up with words).

An even more correct answer would be: not at all, in the nature of flowers does not exist at all - only our imagination creates the illusion of color. R.A. Wilson on this occasion loved to quote an old Zen koan: “Who is the Master who makes grass green?” Buddhists have always understood this. The colors of the rainbow are created by the same Master. And he can create them in completely different ways. As someone noted: "steelmakers distinguish a lot of shades in the transition from yellow to red ..."

The same Wilson noted the following moment: “Do you know that an orange is“ in reality ”blue? It absorbs blue light that passes through its peel. But we see the orange exactly “orange”, because there is no orange light in it. Orange light bounces off its skin and hits the retina of our eyes. The “essence” of the orange is blue, but we do not see it; orange is in our brains, and we see it. Who is the Master who makes an orange an orange? ”

Osho wrote about the same thing: “Each ray of light consists of seven colors of the rainbow. Your clothes are red for one strange reason. They are not red. Your clothes absorb six colors from a ray of light - all except red. Red is reflected back. The remaining six are absorbed. As red reflects, it falls into the eyes of other people, so they see your clothes in red. This is a very controversial situation: your clothes are not red, that’s why they seem red. ” Note that for Osho, the rainbow is seven-color, although he already lived in “six-color” America.

From the point of view of modern biology, a person sees three colors in a rainbow, because a person perceives shades by three types of cells. Physiologically, according to modern concepts, healthy people should distinguish three colors: red, green, blue (Red, Green, Blue - RGB). In addition to cells that respond only to brightness, some cones in the human eye selectively respond to the wavelength. Biologists have identified color-sensitive cells (cones) of three types - the same RGB. Three colors are enough for us to create any shade. The rest of the endless set of different intermediate shades is completed by the brain, based on the ratios of irritation of these three types of cells. Is this the final answer? Not really, it’s also just a convenient model (In “reality”, the sensitivity of the eye to blue is much lower than to green and red).

Thais, like us, are taught at school that there are seven colors in the rainbow. The veneration of the number seven arose in ancient times due to the knowledge by mankind of then known to him seven celestial bodies (moon, sun and five planets). Hence the seven-day week appeared in Babylon. Every day corresponded to his planet. This system was borrowed by the Chinese and spread further. The number seven became almost sacred over time, each day of the week had its own god. The Christian "six-day" with an additional weekend Sunday (in Russian originally just called "week" - from "do not") spread throughout the world. So it is unlikely that Newton could “open” a different number of colors in the rainbow.

But in everyday life, the number of perceived flowers among Thais depends on their place of residence. The city will soon be the official number - seven. And in the province - in different ways. Moreover, the colors of the rainbow can vary even in neighboring villages. For example, in some settlements in the northeast there are two orange colors “catfish” and “gray”. The second word means something like "more orange." As in the case of, say, the Chukchi, who have more different names for white in the language, since they have long distinguished shades of white snow, it is no coincidence that Thais singled out a separate color. In those places, a beautiful Dokjan flower grows on trees, the color of which differs from the usual orange color “catfish”.