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additive mixture
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colour mixing A Venn diagram shows the three primary colors of light-green, blue, and red-as overlapping circles. Their intersections create cyan, magenta, yellow, and white at the center, illustrating additive color mixing.
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additive mixture

color
Also known as: additive synthesis
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Quick Summary

colour mixing
colour mixing (Left) The additive mixing of red, green, and blue. (Right) The subtractive mixing of magenta, yellow, and cyan.

Additive mixture, in the context of color, refers to the process of combining beams of light. The primary colors in this system are red, green, and blue. By mixing these three colors in varying proportions, a wide spectrum of other colors can be produced. When red, green, and blue light are mixed together in equal amounts, the resulting color is white. This principle is demonstrated by overlapping beams of red, green, and blue light, where combinations create colors like yellow (red and green) and magenta (red and blue). The RGB color model, used in digital displays, is a practical application of additive color mixing.123

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3 Britannica Sources
  1. colour - The laws of colour mixture
  2. additive primary
  3. human eye - Colour mixing

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