Is colour actually a reflection thrown from the surface of any skin / material or is it inherent?

Answer 1

It is both. The inherent quality of a material determines which wavelengths of light are absorbed and which are reflected. That in turn determines the color we see, which is result of the reflected light.

Answer 2

As has already been said, it is a bit of both.

When light strikes a surface some wavelengths of the light are absorbed, and the remaining wavelengths are reflected. The part that is absorbed in a quality of the surface, so that part is inherent.

There is one complication when there is a very thin film on the surface (like petrol on water) and this can split the wavelengths so that we see rainbow colour - but I'll ignore this possibility.

What is reflected depends on the mix of wavelengths striking the object. Sunlight has a different spectrum from fluorescent light, from sodium street lights, and even from moonlight. The mix of wavelengths hitting the object are property of the source - not inherent to the surface.

An object observed in sunlight will often be a different colour than the same object observed under a sodium streetlamp. The absorption by the object is the same, but the mix of frequencies remaining is different.

When the remaining light enters the eye it can be affected by the retina, so that too can change the observed colour.

Finally there are the psychological effects. The naming of colour affects the way we see them (so called 'codability'). Cultures which have limited colour names distinguish more poorly between colour samples than do cultures with a rich range of colour names. So what we actually perceive is not just in the wavelength, but in our encoding.

Finally there is the issue of whether we all see yellow (for example) in the same way - is your conscious experience of sodium yellow the same as mine. This is more an issue of metaphysics than physics, but there are psychological procedures which can say things about the structure of internal colour space, if not its absolute conscious experience.

Answer 3

Different colors exist at different places in the Light Spectrum. The high end of the spectrum contains Blue and ultra Violet and the low end bordering on "Heat" is in the Red end of the spectrum such as infra red.
Different materials will reflect different colors, depending upon their make up.

For instance the Oceans Absorb Red Light and reflect blue light. that is why the oceans look blue.

Answer 4

yes its shown different because of reflection
when a light is thrown on any surface, the surface absorb some part of light and reflect some part of light and according to the nature of surface the light reflect and according to wavelength of reflected light we see the colour

Answer 5

Acutally we are unable to see anything because of the reflection phenomena and also of the skin. Everybody radiates energy, due to different wavelength of energy emitted we can see that colour if the frequency of that wave is under the Visible Region of light.

Answer 6

it is inherent as different skin types have different properties, light skin burns and dark skin tends not to, but interesting colour does not exist the whole world is basically black and and the only reasons humans perseve colour is due to the ability to be able interprit the refracted light intensity

Answer 7

that is right except for any self lightening bodies like a lamp, the sun, a heating resistance whose colour is inherent

Answer 8

It is in the eye of the beholder. Color is in respect to the reflection of light. In the dark we are all beautiful because black is beautiful. At least it is on my new Jaguar.

Answer 9

....refraction you **** the natural ability to bend incoming light...if you can think of colour as sound your somewhere close