I think, what we see is the light reflected from an object .' If the object has certain colour then only that colour is reflected back to our eyes and we see that'. I want to know if it is right or not.
*If right then what happens to the rest of the color which are not reflected. If they are absorbed by the light then where do they go.
*If not then what is the colours that we see?
(Please read the question carefully before answering)
Thank you
2006-09-29 05:03:54 · 9 answers · asked by piti 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Which colors are reflected determines the color of the object we see. The colors that are not reflected are absorbed. The absorbed light becomes heat and warms up the object. That is why objects are cold to the touch at night and warm or even hot in the sunlight.
2006-09-29 05:09:04 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What actually happens is white light in our case, strikes the object, the object absorbs the light and particular wavelengths are re-radiated back out. We interpret the re-radiated wavelengths as the color of the object.
The rest of the colors have been absorbed by the object and converted into heat typically.
I should add, the others are correct that while we devide the visible spectrum into 6 or 7 colors, the spectrum is continious and objects typically "reflect" more than one wavelength which are superimposed or very close to eachother. Even lasers, which produce some of the purest wavelengths, produce more than one.
2006-09-29 23:47:33 · answer #2 · answered by minuteblue 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Colour is a continuous spectrum, light is not made up of 7 colours.
You are right about the colour you see an object as as being the colour reflected by the objects, at least when it comes to objects that don't give off their own light.
The light not reflected is absorbed. Usually it is converted to heat, but it can also be converted to other colours of light as well, through the excitation of electrons in the atoms of the object. When the electrons drop back to a lower energy level they emit a specific colour of light.
2006-09-29 12:10:32 · answer #3 · answered by Michael E 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
To echo what others have said, there are an infinite number of colors, not just 7. The wavelength of light determines its color.
If you have two light waves of different colors, we will see one color that is a combination of the other two, but a computer sensor, for example, would be able to tell that it's actually two separate wavelengths, not just one. Our brains, however, can't tell the difference. That's because of the biology of the eye and how the brain interprets the signals.
For example, you could combine a red light and a green light (two different wavelengths), and to our eyes it would look yellow. You could also just shine a yellow light (one wavelength) and get the same color.
The same is true for light reflected by a colored object. A yellow object might look yellow because it is reflecting yellow and absorbing all other colors of light. Or it might be reflecting red and green and absorbing all other colors. Our brains can't tell the different, but a computerized sensor could.
2006-09-29 15:06:22 · answer #4 · answered by kris 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The wavelengths of different colours are different and hence the sighting of the colours are dependent on this. Further a light has to pass through a prism like object for the colours to get reflected with the refraction.
VR
2006-09-29 12:11:53 · answer #5 · answered by sarayu 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What you are sayin is right.. however the contrast & shades come due to the mixture of different coloured lights as well as the amount which light being reflected & which coloured light is falling & what is the enviroment light colour...
For eg : a blue shawl under yellow bulb will seem green
& black on a dark night
& white in blue light..... so on
2006-09-29 12:09:51 · answer #6 · answered by Ashish Samadhia 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, the color we see is fabricated in the brain. It is related to the frequencies of light we see, but it is NOT solely determined by the frequencies of light. There are some amazing demonstrations of this at the link below.
2006-09-29 12:56:58 · answer #7 · answered by Zhimbo 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i agree with some that it would be better to percieve visble light as continues electromagnetic spectrium from 400 to 700nm than 7 colors.
retina as three types of cones each responding to certain band of wavelength..brain percieves these three as red ,green & blue the three basic colors.all other colors percieved by brain are mixture of these three.ccd chips of digital camera has the same mechanism
2006-09-29 13:23:38 · answer #8 · answered by abh 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the visible spectrum, as far as the 7 colors are concerned, are usually listed as ROYGBIV, or: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.
2006-09-29 12:12:21 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋