Light and Color

Section 4

Light and Matter

When light strikes any matter it can interact with matter in 3 different ways:

It can be: reflected, absorbed or transmitted.

Transmission- is the passing of light through matter.

Types of Matter

Transparent: matter through which visible light is easily transmitted ( ex. air, glass and water)

Translucent: matter transmits light but also scatters the light as it passes through the matter. (ex. wax paper)

Opaque: matter that does not transmit any light(wood and metal)

Colors of Objects

Light reaches your eyes after being reflected off an object or after being transmitted through an object.

Colors of Opaque Objects

When white light strikes a colored opaque object some colors are absorbed and some are reflected. Only the light that is reflected Reaches your eyes and this is the color you see.

Mixing Colors of Light

Red blue and green are the primary colors of light

These three colors can be combined in different ratios to produce all colors of visible light

Secondary colors are produced by adding 2 primary colors together

Colors

Combining colors of light is called color addition

COLOR ADDITION

Cyan = blue + green

Magenta = red + blue

Yellow = red + green

Mixing of Color Pigment

Pigments: are materials that give a substance its color by absorbing some color of light and reflecting others.

Chlorophyll and melanin are examples of pigments.

Mixing of color pigments is called color subtraction.

Pigments

The primary pigments are yellow, cyan and magenta