Human Eye and The Colourful World

How does the Human Eye perceives colour?

The Retina of the Human eye has millions of rod cells and cone cells. The Rod cells respond to
the intensity of light, with different degrees for brightness and darkness. The Cone cells respond
to colours. When the light reflected from an object hits the cone cells, it stimulates them to
varying degrees, thus generating signals. The signals formed are sent to the brain by the optic
nerve. The brain processes this information and returns with a colour.
Scattering of Light
Scattering of Light is the change in the direction of the propagation of light by large number of
molecules such as Smoke, Water Vapours, Dust, etc present in the earths atmosphere.
Scientist John William Strutt said that the amount of scattering is inversely proportional to the
fourth power of the Wavelength. Scattering 1/^4.
The Water In Seas Appear Blue: This phenomenon occurs due to the absorption of the lights
of larger wavelengths such as Red, Yellow, Orange, etc. The light of shorter wavelengths, that
is, blue and indigo get reflected and thus the seas appear blue. Another reason for this is the
reflection of the colour of the sky, although absorption is the main reason.
The Sky Appears Blue: When the white light from the Sun enters the earths
atmosphere, the lights of shorter wavelengths, that is, blue, indigo scatter the most
(since Scattering 1/^4). This makes the sky appear blue.
The Sky Appears Orange At Sunset: When the Sunset happens, the white light from the sun
has to travel much greater distances to reach earth than when it is overhead. During this, the
lights of shorter wavelengths get removed by scattering and the light of longer wavelengths, that
is, red and orange, reach our eyes and thus the sky appears orange at sunset.
The Clouds Appear White and Sometimes Grey: A cloud is made up of large water droplets
and dust particles. These scatter lights of all wavelengths almost equally, which gives them a
white appearance. But sometimes, the clouds appear greyish. This phenomenon is commonly
seen before and during rains, when the clouds are heavier and denser than usual. Most of the
light coming from the sun is absorbed by the upper part of the clouds and the lower part, which
is visible to us, get very less light and this is appears greyish.

Primary Colours
These are colours that cannot be created through the mixing of other colours. Traditionally, Red,
Blue and Green are taken as the three Primary Colours. When mixed in suitable quantities,
these colours create white light.
Spectral Colours
colours that can be produced by visible light of a light of single wavelengths (monochromatic light)
are called spectral colours. Traditional colours include: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.
Grey, black, white, pink, etc are some examples of non-spectral colours.
Additive and Subtractive Mixing of Colours
Mixing of colours using different coloured lights is called Additive Mixing of Colours. Examples of
additive colour sources include computers and televisions.
Mixing of colours using physical pigments such as ink, paints, etc is called Subtractive Mixing of
Colours. Examples of subtractive colour sources include painting and printing.
Almost all the colours can be formed using the three primary colours. For example, Yellow can
obtained from mixing Red and Green. Brown can be obtained by mixing green and red.
I referred these websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectral_colour
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monochrome
http://www.worqx.com/colour/colour_systems.htm

Edit 1:
Rainbow
The Rainbow is a spectrum of Sunlight seen in nature.
It is formed due to the dispersion of sunlight present in the atmosphere after rainfall.
When the sunlight enters a water droplet, it acts like a prism and dispersion of light takes place.
These get internally reflected and finally get refracted and reach the eyes of the observer. There are
three main steps:
1. Entering of light in a water droplet and its dispersion
2. Internal reflection of light
3. Refraction of light

Mirage

Different temperatures of air have different densities and thus different refractive index. Cold air is
denser and warm air is rarer, and thus, cold air has a higher refractive index.
A light passes down from cool to hot air, it gets bent upwards towards the denser air and away from
the ground.
To our yes, these rays, which have got curved, seem to be coming from the ground, so we perceive
a refracted image of the sky on the ground.
(No sources used this time)