Show Related StoriesImage Credits: Nataliya Druchkova/shutterstock.com Throughout history, there have been many theories looking to explain what color is. Early theories by Aristotle were based around the idea that all colors came from white and black, and were related to the ‘four elements’ but the first theory that laid the foundations of modern optics was provided by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666. Splitting White LightNewton passed a narrow beam of sunlight through a prism located in a dark room. Although the sunlight appeared while, on passing through the prism, the white light was split into all the components of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet) and could be seen on the white screen behind. People have already seen that light passing through a prism would result in a rainbow-like spectrum, but Newton’s experiments were the first to show that different colors are bent through different angles in the prism. After demonstrating that all the colors we see are part of white light, Newton passed the light through a second prism. Here, all the visible colors were merged again to result in white light. Source of ColorOur ability to see colors is related to the interaction of light with the colored object. The color of an object is seen because the object reflects, absorbs, and transmits one or more of the colors that make up white light. The endless variety of colors is caused by the interrelationship of three elements: Light, the source of color; the material and its response to color; and the eye, the perceiver of color. Primary or Additive ColorsThere are two main models for using and understanding the interactions between different colors. The first is based on three primary colors, red, green and blue. Colors made by combining blue, green, and red light are called additive; and they are formed by adding different intensities and combinations of the three component colors. The other uses the ‘pigment color primaries’, cyan, magenta, and yellow, which again can be mixed to make new additive colors. Pigment ColorsPigments are strongly colored materials that change the color of reflected or transmitted light by absorbing a characteristic color of light. Pigments are found in certain kinds of paints and inks. Differences in the characteristic absorption and light scattering properties between different pigments are why they are available in such a wide range of colors. Colors of the Visible Light Spectrum
This article was updated on 11th March, 2019.
 The answer to the question - "Are black and white colors?" - is one of the most debated issues about color. Ask a scientist and you'll get a reply based on physics: “Black is not a color, white is a color.” Ask an artist or a child with crayons and you'll get another: “Black is a color, white is not a color.” (Maybe!) There are four sections on this page that present the best answers. Introduction: How Colors Exist # 1 - The First Answer: Color Theory #1 - Color as Light # 2 - The Second Answer: Color Theory #2 - Color as Pigment or Molecular Coloring Agents # 3 - The Third and Most Complete Answer: Vision and Reflection Comments from color pros: More about black & white Introduction
How Colors Exist A basic understanding of how colors are created is the first step in providing correct answers. Here are two examples: The color of a tangible object is the result of pigments or molecular coloring agents. For example, the color of a red apple (in the illustration at the left) is the result of molecular coloring agents on the surface of the apple. Also, a painting of a red apple is the result of red pigments used to create the image. The colors of objects viewed on a television set or on a computer monitor are the result of colored light (in the illustration at the right). If you're not familiar with how colors are created by light, look at your monitor or television screen close up. Put your eye right up against the screen. A small magnifying glass might help. This is what you will see:
A simplified way to explain it is that the color of a red apple on a computer or television is created by photons of red light that are transmitted within the electronic system.
It's also important to understand the concept of "primary" colors. The fundamental rule is that there are three colors that cannot be made by mixing other colors together. These three, red, blue, and yellow, are known as the primary colors. Now that we've described two different categories of colors (pigment and light-generated) and have a definition of primary colors, the answer to whether black and white are colors can be answered.
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| Red, Yellow, and Blue (The primary colors of pigments in the art world) | Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (The primary colors of inks in the printing industry) * |
The question:
Are black and white colors when they exist as pigments or as molecular coloring agents?
This is color generated by pigments.
Black and white cats. The colors of the fur is the result of molecules.
The answers:
1. Black is a color. (Chemists will confirm this!)
Explanation: Here's a simple way to show how black is made: Combine all three primary colors (red yellow and blue) using a liquid paint or you even food coloring. You won't get a jet black, but the point will be clear. The history of black pigments includes charcoal, iron metals, and other chemicals as the source of black paints.
Resource: History of Pigments
Therefore, if someone argues that black is the absence of color, you can reply, “What is in a tube of black paint?” However, you must add the fact that black is a color when you are referring to the color of pigments and the coloring agents of tangible objects.
2. White is not a color.
... but .... in some cases you could say that white is a color.
The grey area:
Technically, pure white is the absence of color. In other words, you can't mix colors to create white. Therefore, white is the absence of color in the strictest sense of the definition.
However, when you examine the pigment chemistry of white, ground-up substances (such as chalk and bone) or chemicals (such as titanium and zinc) are used to create the many nuances of white in paint, chalk, crayons - and even products such as Noxema. It's worth noting that white paper is made by bleaching tree bark (paper pulp). Therefore, you could say that white is a color in the context of pigment chemistry.
More Information about CMYK primary colors:
In theory, mixing equal amounts of three primary colors should produce shades of grey or black when all three are fully saturated. In the print industry, cyan, magenta and yellow tend to produce muddy brown colors. For this reason, a fourth "primary" pigment, black, is often used in addition to the cyan, magenta, and yellow colors.
Learn the language of color online
DIY - Learn at your own pace.
Vision and Reflection
The final answer to whether black and white are colors takes other factors into consideration.
Colors exist in the larger context of human vision. Consider the fact that there are three parts to the process of the perception of color.
1. The medium - The color as it exists as a pigment/colorant (such as the color of a tangible object) or as light (such as the color of an image on a television screen).
2. The sender - How the color is transmitted.
3. The receiver - How humans see color. In other words, how we receive information about color.
(If a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody around does it make a sound? Does a color exist if there is no one to see it?)
The question:
Are black and white colors?
The answer:
The best answer combines both of the theories described in Part 1 and Part 2. Pigments and coloring agents (as described in Part 1) are only half of the answer.
Here's how we see color:
The color of a tangible object originates as a molecular coloring agent on the surface of the apple. We see the color of an object because that object reflects “a color” to the eye. Every color is the effect of a specific wavelength. Link to ElecroMagnetic Color at Color Matters.
In the case of the apple, we see the color red because the red apple reflects the specific wavelength of red (640nm is red).
The same theory applies to black and white.
The question:
Are black and white colors?
The answer:
1. Black is not a color; a black object absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them to the eyes.
The grey area about black:
- A black object may look black, but, technically, it may still be reflecting some light. For example, a black pigment results from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb most colors. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called "black." In reality, what appears to be black may be reflecting some light.
- In physics, a black body is a perfect absorber of light.
2. White is a color. White reflects all the colors of the visible light spectrum to the eyes.
In conclusion
The colors we see are simply a degree of how much of this color present in light is reflected. To be completely accurate, a color reflects the wavelengths in the NM range that our retinal cones respond to.
The medium is the process of reflection of the wavelength of the color.
The receiver is our eyes which receive the wavelength of the color.
More from Color Matters
There's more to color than black and white! When you're finished with this article, discover the 3 most important things about color at Color Matters. See Basic Color Theory
When you're finished with black & white, explore some real colors at Color Matters: The Meanings of Color
Comments from colors pros: More about black & white
More about color vision:How the Eye Sees Color
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