C O L O R

The color of the objects that we see are largely due to the way those objects interact with light and ultimately reflect or transmit it to our eyes. The color of an object is not actually within the object itself. Rather, the color is in the light that shines upon it and is ultimately reflected or transmitted to our eyes.

We know that the visible light spectrum consists of a range of frequencies, each of which corresponds to a specific color. When visible light strikes an object and a specific frequency becomes absorbed, that frequency of light will never make it to our eyes. Any visible light that strikes the object and becomes reflected or transmitted to our eyes will contribute to the color appearance of that object.

So the color is not in the object itself, but in the light that strikes the object and ultimately reaches our eye. The only role that the object plays is that it might contain atoms capable of selectively absorbing one or more frequencies of the visible light that shine upon it.

LIGHT ABSORPTION REFLECTED LIGHT

In this experiment, glasses half filled with water were placed onto papers of different colors and photographed under sunlight. Inside the glass, we can see the color of the light absorbed by the paper. On the green sheet, the color of absorbed light is magenta. On the red sheet, the color of absorbed light is green. On the yellow sheet, the color of absorbed light is blue. On the blue sheet, the color of absorbed light is yellow.

Images: Fernando Dassan LIGHT, COLOR and PAINTING