What makes colour




















As more colors are added, the result becomes lighter, heading towards white. RGB is used to generate color on a computer screen, a TV, and any colored electronic display device. When you mix colors using paint , or through the printing process, you are using the subtractive color method.

The primary colors of light are red, green, and blue. If you subtract these from white you get cyan, magenta, and yellow. Mixing the colors generates new colors as shown on the color wheel, or the circle on the right. Mixing these three primary colors generates black. These cones have traditionally been known as blue-sensitive, green-sensitive and red-sensitive, but as each cone is actually responsive to a range of wavelengths, the S, M and L labels are more accepted now.

These three types of colour receptor allow the brain to perceive signals from the retina as different colours. Some estimate that humans are able to distinguish about 10 million colours. The primary colours of light are red, green and blue. Mixing these colours in different proportions can make all the colours of the light we see.

This is how TV and computer screens work. If you look at a screen with a magnifying glass you will be able to see that only these three colours are being used. For example, red and green lights are used to make our brain perceive the image as yellow. When coloured lights are mixed together, it is called additive mixing. Red, green and blue are the primary colours for additive mixing. If all of these colours of light are shone onto a screen at the same time, you will see white.

This is different when you are mixing paints. Each colour of paint is absorbing certain colours and reflecting others. Each time another colour of paint is mixed in, there are more colours absorbed and less are reflected. The primary colours for adding paints or dyes, such as for a computer printer, are yellow, magenta and cyan. If you mix all of these colours together, you will absorb all the light and will only see black, because no light will be reflected back to your eyes.

You can easily experiment with this. Hold some coloured cellophane in front of your eyes and have a look around. Notice how some colours are changed and others look similar. Figure out which colours are being absorbed. It sometimes takes a long time for new scientific knowledge to become widespread. First of all — everything is made up of electrons and atoms, but each substance has a different number of atoms and different electron configuration.

This way, when light hits matter one or more of the following phenomena happens:. Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40, subscribers can't be wrong. The human eye and brain translate light into colour.

Light receptors within the eye transmit messages to the brain, producing the familiar sensation of colour. Rods are mostly concentrated around the edge of the retina and transmit mostly black and white information. Cones transmit the higher levels of light intensity that create the sensation of color and visual sharpness. These cells, working in combination with connecting nerve cells, give the brain enough information to interpret and name colours. Think of atoms like bricks in a wall chemical compound.

Imagine throwing a ball into the wall. If the wall is smooth or has sharp corners, the ball may jump back in different directions. However, if the wall is filled with holes, the ball may go through the wall or get stuck in one of the tricky corners, respectively. Same with every surface when light hits it. The surface may reflect the light back; it can absorb light or just let it pass through transparent things.

For instance, the light we get to see, called visible light, is only a fraction of the full range of frequencies. A molecule might absorb photons from anywhere across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to X-rays , but it will be colourful only if there is a difference in how strongly it absorbs one visible wavelength over another.

As it turns out, this is quite uncommon since most molecules absorb light above the visible spectrum, in the ultraviolet range.

So, because electrons in most molecules are bound very tightly, most compounds are white!



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