Color and Vision General Physics

Band of Visible Light ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet)

How eyes interpret colors Retina – lined with rods and cones (light sensing cells) Rods – sensitive to intensity of light Cones – sensitive to colors ▫Red, blue, and green cones ▫Create chemical reaction that sends electrical impulse to brain

Reflection and Absorption of Light The color does not reside in the object The color of the object is in the light that is reflected from the object We don’t see colors that are absorbed by the object

Color Addition Color Addition – producing different colors of light by combining the primary colors Primary Colors – produce white light when combined with the correct intensity ▫Red, green, and blue Secondary Colors – produced by adding equal intensities of 2 of the primary colors ▫Magenta, yellow, cyan

Color Subtraction Color is determined by starting with a mixture of colors and then identifying what colors are subtracted from the original set Pigments – chemicals that selectively absorb one or more frequency of visible light

Color Subtraction Primary pigments – pigment that absorbs only one primary color ▫Yellow, cyan, and magenta Secondary pigments – pigment that absorbs two primary colors and reflects one ▫Red, green, blue Black – all visible light is absorbed and none is reflected

Color Addition