Is black and white a color?

Question

People say it's not, and people say it is. Well, if it's on a crayon, isn't it a color, I surely think so.

Answer 1

well technically black isn't a color because it's a shade that doesn't reflect light in any part of the color spectrum, and scientifically speaking black isn't a hue (color) because if there where a black object, it would absorb all of the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them. In practice black could by called a color such as black paint for a car or a black cat. Now white is a combination of all colors of the visible light spectrum, and is also the color of objects that reflect light, being a shade white has 100% brightness with out a hue (color).

Answer 2

just like some people above have answered, black and white are NOT colors. with the properties of light, they are either the lack of any color or the complete spectrum of colors.

to simplify, generally what everyone sees is light being reflected off of objects or particles. lets assume that all things are illuminated by the sun, which emits all the colors of the visible spectrum. the color of a particular object is the color that is not absorbed by that object. so, if an object is blue, it absorbs all the colors of the spectrum EXCEPT blue, which is reflected into your eye.

so, if an object is white, it actually absorbs NO COLORS of the spectrum (or at least none that can be detected by human eyes) and reflects back the full spectrum. and if an object is black, it absorbs ALL THE COLORS of the visible spectrum and reflects NONE.

in painting, drawing, or even crayons, the same properties apply. black and white are not real colors, but rather a mixture or lack of all of the colors. the term to identify them has just been simplified.

but you can call them colors....who cares.

Answer 3

When speaking of pigments, such as paint, pencils, crayons, etc. then black and white ARE colors.

If you speak of wavelengths of light, it is very different. Black is said to be the "absence of color," while pure white is how the eye percieves "all" the colors of the spectrum.

Colors on the computer monitor are described in even other ways.

So, it depends.

Answer 4

Technically, they're not, and neither is grey. White is derived from all colors. If you were to spin a color wheel really fast, you'd see that it appears white. Black is basically the absence of light, therefore an absence of color.
Grey is a neutral, derived from the two.

Answer 5

Black and white are not part of the color spectrum.
They are shades.

Answer 6

Buy a box of crayons and figure it out.

Answer 7

Black is the presence of all color wavelengths. White is the absence of all color wavelengths. They are both colors.

Answer 8

if you mix them together, it makes gray, and color pretty much means everything that you can see. so in that sense, it makes it a color.

but on the other hand, there are also black and white televisions, which have only THOSE colors and not anything else, like reds, blues, etc. so in that sense, it's not very colorful.

Answer 9

lol. That's like me asking you if yellow and purple are a color. ( Yes black and white is a color. I believe a primary color is what they call them. )

Answer 10

like Grey? or like strips? um..... if you can see it, it is a color!!