The color amber is a pure
chroma color, located on the
color wheel
A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc.
Some sources use the terms ''color wheel'' & ' ...
midway between the colors of
yellow and
orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
. The color name is derived from the material also known as
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
, which is commonly found in a range of yellow-orange-brown-red colors; likewise, as a color ''amber'' can refer to a range of yellow-orange colors. In
English, the first recorded use of the term as a color name, rather than a reference to the specific substance, was in 1500.
SAE/ECE amber
Amber is one of several technically defined colors used in automotive signal lamps. In North America,
SAE standard J578 governs the
colorimetry
Colorimetry is "the science and technology used to quantify and describe physically the human color perception".
It is similar to spectrophotometry, but is distinguished by its interest in reducing spectra to the physical correlates of color ...
of vehicle lights, while outside North America the internationalized European
ECE regulations
The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations is a working party (WP.29) of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Its responsibility is to manage the multilateral Agreements ...
hold force. Both standards designate a range of orange-yellow hues in the
CIE color space as "amber".
In the past, the ECE amber definition was more restrictive than the SAE definition, but the current ECE definition is identical to the more permissive SAE standard. The SAE formally uses the term "yellow amber", though the color is most often referred to as "yellow". This is not the same as
selective yellow, a color used in some fog lamps and
headlamps.
Formal definitions
Previously, ECE amber was defined according to the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic,
ECE Convention on Road Traffic, 1968, p. 63
/ref> as follows:
Recent revisions to the ECE regulations have aligned ECE Amber with SAE Yellow, defined as follows:
The entirety of these definitions lie outside the gamut of the sRGB
sRGB is a standard RGB (red, green, blue) color space that HP and Microsoft created cooperatively in 1996 to use on monitors, printers, and the World Wide Web. It was subsequently standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission ( ...
color space — such a pure color cannot be represented using RGB primaries. The color box shown above is a desaturated approximation, produced by taking the centroid
In mathematics and physics, the centroid, also known as geometric center or center of figure, of a plane figure or solid figure is the arithmetic mean position of all the points in the surface of the figure. The same definition extends to any o ...
of the standard definition and moving it towards the D65 white point
A white point (often referred to as reference white or target white in technical documents) is a set of tristimulus values or chromaticity coordinates that serve to define the color "white" in image capture, encoding, or reproduction. Depending o ...
, until it meets the sRGB gamut triangle.
Cultural use
Computers
* The Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VT220
The VT220 is a computer terminal introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in November 1983. The VT240 added monochrome ReGIS vector graphics support to the base model, while the VT241 did the same in color. The 200 series replaced the s ...
computer terminals were available with amber phosphors in their CRTs.
Interior design
Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...
* The original Amber Room in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg was a complete chamber decoration of amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...
panels backed with gold leaf and mirrors. Due to its singular beauty, it was sometimes dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World
Eighth Wonder of the World is an unofficial title sometimes given to new buildings, structures, projects, designs or even people that are deemed to be comparable to the seven Wonders of the World.
Candidates for the Eighth Wonder of the World ...
".
Sports
* In Gaelic games, Armagh
Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , " Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the P ...
play in a darker amber color (the amber that is prevalent in the Irish flag), Offaly
County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, i ...
play in the original colors of the Irish flag (green, white and amber) and Kilkenny also play in black and amber, albeit a more yellow amber.
* Amber is a color worn by English football clubs Hull City AFC, Bradford City AFC
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes.
Th ...
, Barnet FC
Barnet Football Club is a professional football club based in Edgware, North London. The team compete in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in Chipping Barnet, then part of Hertfordsh ...
, Shrewsbury Town FC (As part of stripes), Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ye ...
, Cambridge United FC
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...
and Sutton United. The color is also worn by the Scottish football club Motherwell FC, as well as many other sports clubs around the world.
Traffic engineering
* Amber is used in traffic light
Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic.
Traffic lights ...
s and turn signals
The lighting system of a motor vehicle consists of lighting and signalling devices mounted to or integrated into the front, rear, sides, and in some cases the top of a motor vehicle. They illuminate the road ahead for the driver and increase th ...
.
Theatre
* Amber, sometimes named " Bastard Amber", along with 'Moonlight Blue', is one of the two most common colors used in stage lighting.
See also
* List of colors
References
External links
UNECE Regulation No. 6: Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Direction Indicators for Motor Vehicles and their Trailers (E/ECE/324-E/ECE/TRANS/505/Rev.1/Add.5/Rev.4)
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp29/wp29regs/r006r4a1e.pd
UNECE Regulation No. 48: Uniform Provisions Concerning the Approval of Vehicles with Regard to the Installation of Lighting and Light-Signalling Devices (E/ECE/324-E/ECE/TRANS/505/Rev.1/Add.47/Rev.3/Amend.2)
{{Shades of yellow
Tertiary colors
Quaternary colors
ja:琥珀色