2007-01-18 00:13:56 · 9 answers · asked by bluenose 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Because the colours of the spectrum actually refer to light. White light is said to contain all the colours of the spectrum. When you talk about something solid, it is a different story. The objects we see are reflecting various colours of the spectrum and what we are seeing is the colours which are not reflected back (so something "black" absorbs all of the light - that's why black things warm up faster). When you mix colours of paint, you are essentially adding up the absorbed light. Or taking away the light which is reflected. The less light is reflected, the darker it gets, so you end up with brown.
2007-01-18 00:26:57 · answer #1 · answered by c'mon, cliffy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The pigment in the paint isn't pure as light is. Therefore the colour you get depends on the quality of the paint and also the ratios of the colours. The amounts would have to be exactly the same to come anywhere white.
2007-01-18 00:27:06 · answer #2 · answered by skaters mam 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because white light is made up of all the other frequencies / wave lengths of light so when they mix together you get white light.
Whereas paint pigments are made up from a load of different colours to make that particular colour so when you mix them together you are not mixing pure components so the resulting mess is brown as this is the strongest mix.
2007-01-18 00:22:00 · answer #3 · answered by breezeycouk 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
actually it is more of a greyish brown...and the spectrum deals with the way light is absorbed by a colour, and what colour in the light spectrum is thrown back out...with paint it just doesn't work that way...i suppose we could look at string theory for the answer, but i can readily explain that, whereas i cannot explain the phenomenon you are asking about.
2007-01-18 00:20:08 · answer #4 · answered by captsnuf 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the spectrum deals with light and a transclucent refraction where as paint is an opaque substance and mixing the colours gets brown because they can refract the light in the same way. the denser the material the les refraction you get rainbows versus mud puddles
2007-01-18 00:22:37 · answer #5 · answered by Natashya K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because you can not represent some of the colours with paint to make the white.
ultra violet .
2007-01-18 00:24:24 · answer #6 · answered by John H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
when you mix colours directly you get a diferent colour, you need to mix the colours without changing them. if you paint coloured stripes on a disk and spin it fast you will get approching white
2007-01-18 01:46:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anthony D 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light is not paint and so the two react differently.
2007-01-18 00:21:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Different quantities i would imagine
2007-01-18 00:18:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋