Is it true that viruses don't have colors or our current methods are limited to detect it?
Hej Sayed,
H1N1 appears in bright colours. See attached file. But whether avian flu does?
Best,
Guenther
Hej Sayed,
H1N1 appears in bright colours. See attached file. But whether avian flu does?
Best,
Guenther
The answer depends on the definition of term "colors".
The wavelength of visible light is between 380 (violet) and 760 nm (red).
A lot of viruses have diameter about 100 nm or less. Just few viruses have size near 1000 nm = 1 micrometer.
For a single particle with such little size a classical term "color" (a spectrum of reflectance) doesn't have any sense. But with a SNOM or other device with sub-wavelength aperture for optical spectroscopy, we can measure the optical properties for a single virion. It is possible to say for a peak wavelength "it is the color of virus!" and it will be correct.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl0610836?journalCode=nalefd
The second way is an increasing of virus amount: some viruses can crystallize and it is possible to see these macroscopic crystals by conventional light microscopy or even with the naked eye. It is possible to say about its color "it's the color of virus!"
The influenza virus, obviously, can't crystallize, but you can concentrate it by centrifugation, see a deposit on the bottom of a tube and say "it is a color of virus!" :)
On the other hand, there are a lot of artificial colored pictures of viruses. It is simple just to paint a conventional monochromic EM-picture. But it isn't a "color of virus" it is just an illustration.
Best regards,
Denis
@Guenther: Nice picture, compared to the swine H1N1, avian influenza will be different according to the bird .. brown chickens will produce brown virus and peacock will produce a fancy multicolor viruses;particularly in the sunlight :) :) ... About sleeping, why not? or may be they don't have eyelids :) :)
@Denis:
Thank you very much for your answer, it is helpful.
Regarding the taste of viruses, hence viruses carry host cellular structures, I think they should have taste which will be also variable from host to another. For example, fish viruses will be fishy in taste and . They also contain sugar either in the DNA or bound to proteins which mean they may be sweet in taste :). The question is how much viruses should we eat to feel the taste :)
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