Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

LIGHT

PRIMARIES

When the

three primary

colors of light

are mixed

together in the

correct proportions

they make white.

During rock concerts

and theater performances, lighting

technicians produce a wide range

of colors on the stage by mixing

differently colored spotlights.

COLORED OBJECTS

Objects look colored

because of the way they

reflect the light that

hits them. When

white light falls on

any surface, some colors

are absorbed, or taken in, and

some bounce off. When we

look at the surface, we see

only the colors that bounce

off. It is this colored light

that produces the color

we perceive the object to be.

MIXING COLORS

Red, green, and blue are

called the primary colors

of light. This is because you can

mix red, green, and blue

light in different proportions

to make any color in the

spectrum. In printing there

is a different set of primary

colors: cyan (green-blue),

magenta (blue-red), and yellow.

These, too, can be mixed to give

any color except white.

A WORLD WITHOUT COLOR would be a dull place.

It would also be difficult to live in. Imagine how

hard it would be to tell if traffic lights meant stop

or go if there were no red or green. Nature

has color signals too: the bright colors of a

tree frog warn other animals that it

is poisonous, and the beautiful

colors of a flower attract bees to its nectar. Not

every creature sees colors in the same way;

some animals, such as guinea pigs and

squirrels, are color-blind and cannot

distinguish between different colors at all.

Color is really the way our eyes interpret different kinds of

light. Light is made up of tiny, invisible waves, and each wave

has a particular size or wavelength. Each colored light is

composed of different wavelengths, which our eyes are

able to detect. White light, such as light from the 

sun, is actually a combination of light of 

all the colors of the rainbow.

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RED SHOES
When daylight hits a pair
of red shoes, they look red
because they reflect only
red light and absorb all
the other colors.

BLACK SHOES?

In blue light, red shoes

look black because all the

blue light is absorbed, and

no light is reflected.

Mixing any two

primary colors

produces

secondary

Red colors.

Orange

Blue

Yellow

Green

Violet

Indigo

SPECTRUM

When a prism splits white
light into colors, they always

come out in the same order,
with red at one end and violet

at the other. This is called the
spectrum. When sunlight is

refracted by raindrops, a
rainbow is produced that

contains all the colors of
the spectrum.

PAINT PRIMARIES

Red, yellow, and blue are

the primary colors of

paints. Mixing them

together in the correct

amounts gives black.

Camouflage, animal

Eyes

Light

Painting

Rain and snow

PRISM

A triangular

chunk of glass,

called a prism, separates

all the colors in white light.

When light goes through a

prism, it is refracted, or bent,

because glass slows it down. But

every color goes through at a different

speed, and is bent to a different degree,

so the colors spread out when they

leave the prism.

Find out more

Color