• Question: are black and white colours......d-_-b

    Asked by jamie to Susan, Rob, Rebecca, Josh, Chris on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      In terms of light, no. The light colour spectrum runs from [near-infrared, which we can’t see with our eyes] to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple through to [ultraviolet, which we also can’t see]. There is no space for white or black in there, is there?

      White light is what you get when you shine all the colours of light together at the same time.

      Black is what you “see” when there is no light in the visible range of the spectrum being reflected from an object.

    • Photo: Susan Cartwright

      Susan Cartwright answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      Black and white are examples of non-spectral colours.

      A spectral colour is one that corresponds to a particular wavelength (or range of wavelengths) of light – basically red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

      Colours that don’t correspond to a single wavelength are non-spectral colours. These include the whole greyscale range from white (evoked by combining the full wavelength range of light) to black (absence of light), as well as brown, pink and purple (violet is a spectral colour, but the purples made by mixing red and blue are not).

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