UKC

To add to the collection of nut threads.

What is the origin of the colour convention for nuts and cams for that matter.

Why is it illogical, surely it should follow the spectrum.

There isn't even an orange on the rack, yet 2 blues, 2 yellows and 2 greens.

I might start racking by wavelength.

Totems have a yellow and an orange, as well as a black, but no silver (that’s the yellow).

Why?

If the purpose is to provide quick & clear visual distinction - which it is - then how exactlywould it be helpful to have red & orange, or blue & indigo, next to each other? Just think how we all love it when routesetters put a red, orange and pink all on the same line.

(And what even is "indigo" anyway?)

Um, kind of like a blueish violet  colour...

I think I was once told that the colour of anodised rocks was restricted by what colours were actually possible (not sure why). It was given as a reason the original colour coding by the plastic bit round the wires was not reproduced.

Yeah, I was expecting that to be the answer, availability of anodising dyes.

The unnecessary nature of coloured gear baffles me. 

Well if red is slightly too big, you know you want the orange, that too big you want yellow. No need to rack by size or any such scheme.

Apparently indigo was invented to make the spectrum 7 colours, because 7 was a "special" number and it made it look like it was all god's plan. Or something. There are really only 6 distinct colours in the spectrum.

It's the users that do that

Wrong in so many ways! There are (for all intents and purposes, ignoring Plank limits) an infinite number of colours in the 1D electromagnetic spectrum. And that's got little to do with the 2D colours which we visually perceive (ever considered where in the spectrum you may find 'brown' or 'mauve'? Or even 'hyper-green'.) Even within the pure colours of the EM spectrum, the human eye can distinguish several hundred different hues.

I suspect most people find it really useful - I certainly do.

I am unsure, as per the nut selection thread. I don't find selecting nuts any more or less difficult since the advent of coloured wires. What I might call french cheese another climber might call gold (a rock 4, no need to thank me). Selection is no more difficult or easy.

You won't mind if I repay your favour from a month ago and challenge the environmental impacts of anodising, it produces some nasty effluents. These are unjustifiable for their benefits.

Of course there are an infinite number of hues in the visible spectrum, but the reason we list the 7 named colours of the rainbow as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet is because of Newton's superstition that there should be 7 colours, as 7 was a significant number. Before Newton, people usually described 5 colours of the rainbow, Newton added orange and indigo. He could have added any number of course, but he chose 7 because 7 was special.

That’s fine if you don’t see the difference. I do, in that climbing with nuts and cams which are the same colour would be a pain and could make the difference when you need to place gear quickly. Fair point re environmental impact but there are probably other climbing related things which are higher on the environmental impact list and are unnecessary, such as going on climbing holidays abroad and buying unnecessary gear.

My main issue, as per the nuts thread, is that the colour order isn't consistent between nuts and cams, even within a brand.

Hmm.. are we opening cans of worms today?

Since your eyes (assuming you are average and human) have cone cells to detect Red/Green/Blue. Then how do you distinguish Indigo or violet from blue?

Now there's a rabbit hole to go down....

L cones: Red (peak sensitivity 560 nm), M cones: Greeny yellow (peak sensitivity  530nm), S cones: Blue (peak sensitivity 420nm)

Edit: not suggesting the moon is flat, birds are a conspiracy etc etc. Just that our perception of colour is a bit of a chin stroking puzzler. Or is that what they want you to think? ... ...  Indigo nuts don't exist!

The purpose of nuts is "in di go"

If they’re not skin coloured a visit to the doctor is advisable!