Mixing
Why mixing of colors in paint is black, but mixing of light is white?
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Mixing of different wavelengths of light results in white, but why is that when paint with different colors are mix results in black?
visible-light photons
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
add a comment |Â
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
Mixing of different wavelengths of light results in white, but why is that when paint with different colors are mix results in black?
visible-light photons
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
15
Are you familiar with the additive / subtractive color distinction?
– Alfred Centauri
15 hours ago
4
Just to add to existing answers (not an answer itself) - this is precisely why monitors that produce light use RGB palette while print uses CMY(K). CMY is actually subtracting RGB - if you subtract from white light Red, Green or Blue you get respectively Yellow, Magenta or Cyan. So you're also operating on the same principle of applying the change to only one colour respective to one of the cone types in our eyes at a time. Contrast is added as there are always some wavelengths deflected even if you mix all 3 paints. Thus adding a black to the pallete helps to resolve that (to some level).
– Ister
7 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
up vote
20
down vote
favorite
Mixing of different wavelengths of light results in white, but why is that when paint with different colors are mix results in black?
visible-light photons
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
Mixing of different wavelengths of light results in white, but why is that when paint with different colors are mix results in black?
visible-light photons
visible-light photons
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
asked 15 hours ago
Zirc
1067
1067
15
Are you familiar with the additive / subtractive color distinction?
– Alfred Centauri
15 hours ago
4
Just to add to existing answers (not an answer itself) - this is precisely why monitors that produce light use RGB palette while print uses CMY(K). CMY is actually subtracting RGB - if you subtract from white light Red, Green or Blue you get respectively Yellow, Magenta or Cyan. So you're also operating on the same principle of applying the change to only one colour respective to one of the cone types in our eyes at a time. Contrast is added as there are always some wavelengths deflected even if you mix all 3 paints. Thus adding a black to the pallete helps to resolve that (to some level).
– Ister
7 hours ago
add a comment |Â
15
Are you familiar with the additive / subtractive color distinction?
– Alfred Centauri
15 hours ago
4
Just to add to existing answers (not an answer itself) - this is precisely why monitors that produce light use RGB palette while print uses CMY(K). CMY is actually subtracting RGB - if you subtract from white light Red, Green or Blue you get respectively Yellow, Magenta or Cyan. So you're also operating on the same principle of applying the change to only one colour respective to one of the cone types in our eyes at a time. Contrast is added as there are always some wavelengths deflected even if you mix all 3 paints. Thus adding a black to the pallete helps to resolve that (to some level).
– Ister
7 hours ago
15
15
Are you familiar with the additive / subtractive color distinction?
– Alfred Centauri
15 hours ago
Are you familiar with the additive / subtractive color distinction?
– Alfred Centauri
15 hours ago
4
4
Just to add to existing answers (not an answer itself) - this is precisely why monitors that produce light use RGB palette while print uses CMY(K). CMY is actually subtracting RGB - if you subtract from white light Red, Green or Blue you get respectively Yellow, Magenta or Cyan. So you're also operating on the same principle of applying the change to only one colour respective to one of the cone types in our eyes at a time. Contrast is added as there are always some wavelengths deflected even if you mix all 3 paints. Thus adding a black to the pallete helps to resolve that (to some level).
– Ister
7 hours ago
Just to add to existing answers (not an answer itself) - this is precisely why monitors that produce light use RGB palette while print uses CMY(K). CMY is actually subtracting RGB - if you subtract from white light Red, Green or Blue you get respectively Yellow, Magenta or Cyan. So you're also operating on the same principle of applying the change to only one colour respective to one of the cone types in our eyes at a time. Contrast is added as there are always some wavelengths deflected even if you mix all 3 paints. Thus adding a black to the pallete helps to resolve that (to some level).
– Ister
7 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
34
down vote
accepted
Mixing light does result in white, but this happens due to how paint works. Paint has color not because it's emitting light, but because it's absorbing colors other than the one that's supposed to be the paint's color. As such, when you mix paints, they absorb more and more of the spectrum, resulting in black.
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
1
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
1
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
2
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
13
down vote
Mixing light is additive since you are adding electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths together.
The color of materials as paint relies on a different principle. Only certain wavelengths of the impinging light get scattered back and the rest gets absorbed. For example, red paint only scatters back the red wavelengths and absorbs the others. (This also means if you light the red paint with blue light, you will not see much). Now if you mix all colors of paint, the whole (visible) spectrum of the impinging light will get absorbed. Hence, paint is subtractive.
(This is also the reason why black paint gets warmer than white paint; the absorbed light is converted into heat energy).
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
34
down vote
accepted
Mixing light does result in white, but this happens due to how paint works. Paint has color not because it's emitting light, but because it's absorbing colors other than the one that's supposed to be the paint's color. As such, when you mix paints, they absorb more and more of the spectrum, resulting in black.
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
1
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
1
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
2
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
34
down vote
accepted
Mixing light does result in white, but this happens due to how paint works. Paint has color not because it's emitting light, but because it's absorbing colors other than the one that's supposed to be the paint's color. As such, when you mix paints, they absorb more and more of the spectrum, resulting in black.
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
1
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
1
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
2
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
34
down vote
accepted
up vote
34
down vote
accepted
Mixing light does result in white, but this happens due to how paint works. Paint has color not because it's emitting light, but because it's absorbing colors other than the one that's supposed to be the paint's color. As such, when you mix paints, they absorb more and more of the spectrum, resulting in black.
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
Mixing light does result in white, but this happens due to how paint works. Paint has color not because it's emitting light, but because it's absorbing colors other than the one that's supposed to be the paint's color. As such, when you mix paints, they absorb more and more of the spectrum, resulting in black.
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
answered 15 hours ago
Gabriel Golfetti
971413
971413
1
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
1
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
2
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
1
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
1
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
2
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
1
1
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
What is not immediately obvious, is that one paint reflects one color, another reflects another, so shouldn't a mix of paints reflect all colors, resulting in white?
– LLlAMnYP
5 hours ago
1
1
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
@LLlAMnYP Good point, and it's almost what happens. If you could plot a spectrum of the reflected light, it would be almost perfectly balanced. But the thing is, so much energy is absorbed by the paint that it barely reflects enough power at all. A very dim white light is just gray (i.e. black).
– Gabriel Golfetti
5 hours ago
2
2
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
You can get both. If you are mixing paints, then what one doesn't aborb, another one does (so they just take away incrementally from the same light until nothing is left). But if you put pixels of different colors side by side, you get halftone printing, and you see average colour, which is the same hue, but brighter because none of the dots absorbs it all. However one has to be careful about mixing and black colour: the subtractive mixing model breaks down at high concentrations - it's no longer linear, and you usually get brownish tone.
– orion
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
13
down vote
Mixing light is additive since you are adding electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths together.
The color of materials as paint relies on a different principle. Only certain wavelengths of the impinging light get scattered back and the rest gets absorbed. For example, red paint only scatters back the red wavelengths and absorbs the others. (This also means if you light the red paint with blue light, you will not see much). Now if you mix all colors of paint, the whole (visible) spectrum of the impinging light will get absorbed. Hence, paint is subtractive.
(This is also the reason why black paint gets warmer than white paint; the absorbed light is converted into heat energy).
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
add a comment |Â
up vote
13
down vote
Mixing light is additive since you are adding electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths together.
The color of materials as paint relies on a different principle. Only certain wavelengths of the impinging light get scattered back and the rest gets absorbed. For example, red paint only scatters back the red wavelengths and absorbs the others. (This also means if you light the red paint with blue light, you will not see much). Now if you mix all colors of paint, the whole (visible) spectrum of the impinging light will get absorbed. Hence, paint is subtractive.
(This is also the reason why black paint gets warmer than white paint; the absorbed light is converted into heat energy).
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
add a comment |Â
up vote
13
down vote
up vote
13
down vote
Mixing light is additive since you are adding electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths together.
The color of materials as paint relies on a different principle. Only certain wavelengths of the impinging light get scattered back and the rest gets absorbed. For example, red paint only scatters back the red wavelengths and absorbs the others. (This also means if you light the red paint with blue light, you will not see much). Now if you mix all colors of paint, the whole (visible) spectrum of the impinging light will get absorbed. Hence, paint is subtractive.
(This is also the reason why black paint gets warmer than white paint; the absorbed light is converted into heat energy).
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
Mixing light is additive since you are adding electromagnetic waves with different wavelengths together.
The color of materials as paint relies on a different principle. Only certain wavelengths of the impinging light get scattered back and the rest gets absorbed. For example, red paint only scatters back the red wavelengths and absorbs the others. (This also means if you light the red paint with blue light, you will not see much). Now if you mix all colors of paint, the whole (visible) spectrum of the impinging light will get absorbed. Hence, paint is subtractive.
(This is also the reason why black paint gets warmer than white paint; the absorbed light is converted into heat energy).
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
answered 14 hours ago
EuklidAlexandria
43718
43718
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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15
Are you familiar with the additive / subtractive color distinction?
– Alfred Centauri
15 hours ago
4
Just to add to existing answers (not an answer itself) - this is precisely why monitors that produce light use RGB palette while print uses CMY(K). CMY is actually subtracting RGB - if you subtract from white light Red, Green or Blue you get respectively Yellow, Magenta or Cyan. So you're also operating on the same principle of applying the change to only one colour respective to one of the cone types in our eyes at a time. Contrast is added as there are always some wavelengths deflected even if you mix all 3 paints. Thus adding a black to the pallete helps to resolve that (to some level).
– Ister
7 hours ago