What is Color temperature? — Physics

Definition 11.16 High School Physics · Chapter 11 — Color and Light Sources

The color temperature of a white-ish source is the temperature of the incandescent body whose hue its light matches: candle $1800\,\mathrm{K}$ , incandescent bulb $2700\,\mathrm{K}$ , halogen $3400\,\mathrm{K}$ , midday sun $5500\,\mathrm{K}$ , overcast daylight $6500\,\mathrm{K}$ . It is a color label, not a thermometer reading — a $6500\,\mathrm{K}$ LED runs at room temperature — and vocabulary runs backwards: low color temperature reads “warm” orange, high “cool” bluish.

The color-temperature scale of common sources: “warm” orange hues sit at low T, “cool” bluish hues at high T. — The color-temperature scale of common sources: “warm” orange hues sit at low $T$ , “cool” bluish hues at high $T$ .

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