COLOR PHYSICS By

Camri Mason

THE DISCOVERY• Newton was the 1st person to discover the

spectrum.• His experiment consisted of the a triangular prism,

white paper, and sunlight. • When the sunlight hit the prism, Newton

discovered that the light splits off into 6 colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and, Violet.*Visible colors are a property of the white paper and light, NOT the prism.

SPECTRUM•  Visible light, that which is detectable by the human eye, consists of wavelengths ranging from approximately 780 nanometer (7.80 x 10-7 m) down to 390 nanometer (3.90 x 10-

7 m). 

HOW DO WE SEE COLOR?

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We are able to see color because of the second a Photoreceptor called Cones (RGB), and the second Photoreceptor picks up light called Rods.

The white light from the sun is made all colors, and then our eyes picks up the specific wavelengths of the visible colors and transfers them back to objects to our eyes. Since different atoms and molecules have different natural frequencies of vibration, they will selectively absorb different frequencies of visible light.

LIGHT VS. PIGMENT

LIGHT VS PIGMENT CONT.

Light• Primary Colors (Red, Green, and

Blue)

• * Modern painters say Red, Yellow and Blue !! Use to mix paints!!

• Additive Color

• Used by Televisions and computers, etc.

• IMPORTANT: Note that when RGB’s primaries are mixed evenly that they create the secondary colors of our next color model!

• Colors transmitted through transparent media.

Pigment• Secondary Colors (Cyan, Magenta,

and Green.)

• Subtractive color

• Used in paints and color prints.

• Pigments are chemicals that absorb selective wavelengths—they prevent certain wavelengths of light from being transmitted or reflected. 

• Can create all printable colors too!

• Absorbed by and reflected off of media.

COLOR MIXING

HOW DO WE SEE RAINBOWS?What we see in a rainbow, then, are the wavelengths of the visible colors. The sun emits its radiation in this visible range, which our eyes interpret as the colors of the rainbow. When the raindrops fall, they separate the light into the 6 colors, thus creating rainbows.

WHY THE SKY IS BLUE

• When the sun reaches its highest peak, the white light from the Sun travels through the Earth’s atmosphere, and it collides with particles of air.  The different colors, or wavelengths, of light are scattered by these collisions by different amounts.  Blue light is scattered more than red particles.