Is white a color?

Question

My sister and I are arguing about this. I told her that one of my favorite colors was white, and she told me that white is not a color. I demanded then, if it was not a color, what it was. She told me 'White is the abscence of color.' Now, I know black is the abscence of light, but I have never heard of white being the abscence of color. I don't think white is on the rainbow of colors though, so I'm not so sure. Can someone shed some light (haha, no pun intended) on this situation? I'm doing a project on this. Thank you.

Answer 1

Actually , just the opposite of what she said. White is all colors & you can prove it by shining a white light into a prism. The prisim will break down the colors & you will see a rainbow. Black is the abscence of color. But, she was correct in the aspect of both white & black not being colors.

Answer 2

I've always thought of white as being a color too. But, that said, I found this on Wikipedia and so the argument goes on and on. There was also a nice discussion about this on another website, I've listed that one also.

From Wikipedia: Technically speaking, white is not a color at all, but rather the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum.[1] It is sometimes described as an achromatic color, like black.

As a misnomer, however, white is the color of things that reflect light of all parts of the visible spectrum equally and are not dull (see grey).

Answer 3

Well, some people say that white is the absence of color and that black is all the colors mixed together. But others say the exact opposite. I still don't know.

Answer 4

This is a grey area (get it!?)
White is not a 'pure' color since it is a combination of all other 'visible' colors,

Then again, so is purple (mix of blue and red) or orange (mix of red and yellow).

So technically it is a color.

On a surface, white is the result of reflection of all colors. Green for example would be absorption of all other colors except green which your eye obviously picks up as green.

on a projection white is the result of projecting the primary colors (Red, Blue, Green).

Answer 5

Quoted :

"Technically speaking, white is not a color at all, but rather the combination of all the colors of the visible light spectrum.[1] It is sometimes described as an achromatic color, like black."

Answer 6

yes,white is definetly a colour.

well understand this in this way. How we are able to see a colour in a substance. well when light falls upon a substance . that substance has the capability to absorbe all or few colours of light and rest it reflects. the mixture of all the reflected light colours givers us the final feeling of the colour of that substance. for example a substance has a puple colour, then it has the ability to reflect only red and blue (purple = red +blue) colour of light and rest it absorbs. In this way we way we realise that this substance has purple colour. In the case of white colour that substance has the ability to reflect all the light colours and we know that if we mix all the colours it became white. so white is also a colour as any other colour.In any case if we say that this substance has no colour means that that substance neither absorbs nor reflects light for example glass.

I hope it is clear now.
takecare and bye

Answer 7

In my art classes we are taught that white is all color, and black is the absence of color. And as far as I am concerned, Its a color of paint that I can buy in the art store to paint with, so I say it is a color.

Answer 8

Light is every single color out there, available all at the same time.

Answer 9

Arty answer: No
Science answer: Yes
White is the rainbow of colours. If you hold up a prism to the light the light is defracted and you get the rainbow.

Answer 10

In my opinion your sister is correct. White is the absence of color.