Hacker News Reader

A bit off topic but I never understood why the higher Kelvin numbers are called cooler. The bluer hues are actually the colours from hotter stars hence the higher kelvin numbers (which are temperatures)

Anyone knows where the cool/warm terminology comes from?

And yeah I hate when my bulbs aren't matched. It already annoys me that I can't exactly colour match my IKEA RGB bulbs with the warm/cool ones. They just won't do the exact same hue.

View on HN

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature

Color temperatures over 5000 K are called "cool colors" (bluish), while lower color temperatures (2700–3000 K) are called "warm colors" (yellowish). "Warm" in this context is an analogy to radiated heat flux of traditional incandescent lighting rather than temperature. The spectral peak of warm-colored light is closer to infrared, and most natural warm-colored light sources emit significant infrared radiation. The fact that "warm" lighting in this sense actually has a "cooler" color temperature often leads to confusion.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com