• Question: Why do we have cones in are eyes?

    Asked by nilokoko to Will, Amy on 21 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Amy Birch

      Amy Birch answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi nilokiko,
      Cones are a type of photoreceptor in the eye, and they are how we are able to see colours! There are three different types of cones and they respond to either red, green or blue light. When we see different colours, this is because the light from different objects has hit the cones in the back of the eye and stimulated a certain number of cones depending upon the colour of the object. The cones then send a signal to the brain which the brain puts together into a picture of what we see.
      Hope this answers your question! 🙂

    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hey Nilokoko. Cones are a type of cell in our eyes thats lets us see colours. Like Amy says there are three different cone cells that detect red, blue and green light. All other colours that we see are a mixture of these three! Hope this helps.

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