When the lights are out and you can see nothing, is color really there or is it only there when you see? Since you can't see color in the dark, how do we know it's there? How do we not know it's there?
2006-09-28 10:33:57 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
color really is there, but the "cones" in your eye cannot function in little light.
2006-09-28 10:36:26 · answer #1 · answered by Hugh Jass 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
That's a really good question, because when a human sees say... the color blue its because that particular object has every color in it except for blue, our brains want to automatically see the only thing missing. So when its dark, lets say pitch black, when we can see nothing does it really mean we are seeing everything but can't interpret that because we only see whats not there? Wow, this question is so far the only one that has really got me thinking. I think I'll go now so I can look it up on the Internet.
2006-09-28 10:54:35 · answer #2 · answered by Agnostic 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No it's not because when light is reflected off an object is gives off a color of the spectrum (rainbow), depending on the wavelength (red is the longest wavelength, and violet is the shortest), when there is no light to reflect off an object, there is no color. Seriously I learned this in school, I didn't make this up.
2006-09-28 10:38:22 · answer #3 · answered by bria. 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Color is only a perception of nonabsorbed, reflected light traveling into your eye being sensed and then precieved and translated by your mind. Normal sunlight contains the full spectrum of light, (except those absorbed by the atmosphere), and this light is either abosrbed or reflected by objects depending on their individual properties. When you see nothing (I assume you mean "pitch black") the receptors in your eyes are not receiving any light, either for two reasons; there is no light source to reflect or absorb, or the objects in your proximity are abosrbing all light. Darkness/black are the absence of color.
Light is basically photons moving at different wave lengths, the properties of an object are based on its chemical compostion. Because of its chemical structure it may beable to absorb a certain wavlength of light, which means that you do not see this color, but the colors the object did not absorb. So when you look like at leaf for example. The chamical structure of the leaf, (mainly its cholorplasts) absorb all wavelengths of light, except the wavelength that consides with green, it is not absorbed, therefore it is reflected and travels into our eye, where we absorb the wavelengths information, transfer it to the brain, which tells us the object is green. When in reality the object isn't green it is actually absorbing everyother wavelength beside green light wavelengths.
So in reality objects do not have properties of color, they have properties of interacting with light. Absorb, reflect, distort, or prismatic.
2006-09-28 10:36:39 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Color isn't an inherent quality of any object. Color is simply the reflection of light hitting our eye and getting interpreted by our brain as having a certain hue.
2006-09-28 10:40:00 · answer #5 · answered by Sketch 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would say it is still there. But one could argue that is isn't. Because color is just the reflection of light rays. If there is no light to reflect, then in some sense there is no color also.
2006-09-28 10:44:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No. You cannot see any color in the dark. The reason is because the definition of black is "no colors". The definition of white is "ALL colors mixed together".
That's why it is said that white cars are the safest cars to drive.
Hope this helps.
2006-09-28 10:37:40 · answer #7 · answered by the answer 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Color is created by shades in the object and reflections of light off the object.
2006-09-28 10:42:52 · answer #8 · answered by heroinglitter 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dont know about you, but I usually see black when I cannot see. Black is the Pluto of color; some say it is, some say it isnt. Oh well. I say it is. We know color isnt there because the cones in our eyes arent registering it. Thats the scientific explanation, anyway.
The question might be asked, "How can he see hes got flies in his eyes if he's got flies in his eyes?"
2006-09-28 13:45:53 · answer #9 · answered by Es Macht Nichts 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
when u turn off the lights, u know that color is there because BLACK or NOTHING as u called it is wat u see when all colors are mixed or reflecting threw and off of each other. But then nothing is much different than black. u cannot see nothing unless ther isn't anything for your eye sight to bounce off of in a sense. Technically the nothing that u refered to doesn't exsist... it's black.
2006-09-28 12:24:38 · answer #10 · answered by yuna 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually, there are two schools of thought. One is that if you are working in pigments, black is the presence of all colors, the other is that in the realm of light black is the absence of all colors....so, it depends...
2006-09-28 10:37:29 · answer #11 · answered by KoKo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋