colour

Introduction
Colour and light
- The nature of colour
- The visible spectrum
- The laws of colour mixture
The measurement of colour
- Tristimulus measurement and chromaticity diagrams
- Colour atlases
Physical and chemical causes of colour
- Simple excitations, vibrations, and rotations
  - Incandescence
  - Gas excitation
  - Vibrations and rotations
- Ligand fields
  - Transition metal impurities
  - Transition metal compounds
- Molecular orbitals
  - Organic compounds
  - Charge transfer
- Energy bands
  - Metals
  - Pure semiconductors
  - Doped semiconductors
  - Colour centres
- Geometrical and physical optics
  - Dispersion and polarization
  - Scattering
  - Interference
  - Diffraction
The perception of colour
- Colour effects
- Colour vision
The psychology of colour

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

A circular RYB color wheel divided into twelve segments, showing a progression of colors from red, orange, and yellow to green, blue, and violet.

A diagram of Newton's prism experiment shows a beam of white sunlight entering a glass prism and emerging as a spread of colors labeled red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

A close up image of a digital color-picker, showing shades of greens, yellows, reds, pinks, and blues.

A palette smeared with different colors of paint sits on top of multicolored paint swatches arranged in an arch.

energy distribution in light from daylight

spectral reflectance curve of emerald green

At a Glance

$Diffraction grating$

colour summary

Quizzes

Artist paint brushes and watercolor paintbox on wooden palette. Instruments and tools for creative leisure. Creative background. Paintings art concept. Painting hobby. Back to school. Top view.

More Art and Colors Quiz

Color wheel, visible light, color spectrum. Colour wheel

The Origins of Colors, Pigments, and Dyes

Related Questions

How are wavelength, frequency, and energy related for light?
How can changing the intensity of red or green light change yellow into orange?
How can colour blindness result from a missing or nonfunctioning type of cone?
How can polarized light produce colours when it passes through certain crystals?
How did Isaac Newton’s prism experiments show that white light contains many colours?
How did James Clerk Maxwell demonstrate an early colour photograph in 1861?
How do opponent responses in retinal cells help detect colour boundaries?
How do the three types of cone cells in the retina help humans distinguish colours?
How does a glass prism separate white light into a spectrum of colours?
How does additive colour mixing differ from subtractive colour mixing?
How does colour constancy allow an object to appear similarly coloured under different kinds of illumination?
How does diffraction produce coloured patterns around obstacles and openings?
How does monochromatic light produce a saturated hue?
How does opponent-process theory explain why reddish green and bluish yellow are not perceived?
How does polarization change the vibrations of a light wave?
How does simultaneous colour contrast change the way neighbouring colours appear?
How does the CMY colour model differ from the RYB colour model used in art classes?
How does the Purkinje shift change colour perception at low light levels?
How does the crossing of optic nerve fibres at the optic chiasm help the brain compare images from both eyes?
Which colour of light does a cyan pigment absorb?
Which colour of light does a magenta pigment absorb?
Which visible colour has the longest wavelength?
Which visible colour has the shortest wavelength?
Which wavelengths are the S, M, and L cones most sensitive to?
Which wavelengths make up the visible spectrum for human eyes?
Why can a single perceived colour result from more than one combination of light beams?
Why can mixing red and green filters block nearly all light?
Why can people with tritanopia have difficulty distinguishing blue and yellow?
Why do blue and green objects look brighter than red objects in very dim light?
Why do cyan, magenta, and yellow work as primary colours for colour printing?
Why do higher-frequency light waves carry more energy?
Why do red and green light beams create yellow when they overlap?
Why do shorter wavelengths of light bend more than longer wavelengths in a prism?
Why does a secondary rainbow have its colours in the reverse order?
Why does mixing more pigments tend to make a colour mixture darker?
Why does mixing yellow and blue paint usually make green?

Science Physics Matter & Energy

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External Websites

New Mexico State University - Cooperative Extension Service Publications - A Guide to Color
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives - The Science of Color
LiveScience - How Do We See Color?
Art in Context - Color in Art - Exploring One of the Most Important Elements of Art
Moleculor Expressions - Light and Color
Science Learning Hub - Colours of light
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Color
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Color
Verywell Mind - How Color Psychology Affects Moods, Feelings, and Behaviors

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

color - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
color - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

colour

optics

Also known as: color

Written by

Kurt Nassau

Consultant. Research Scientist, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, 1959–89. Author of The Physics and Chemistry of Color.

Kurt Nassau

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

colour, the aspect of any object that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation. In physics, colour is associated specifically with electromagnetic radiation of a certain range of wavelengths visible to the human eye. Radiation of such wavelengths constitutes that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum known as the visible spectrum—i.e., light. Vision is obviously involved in the perception of colour. A person can see in dim light, however, without being able to...

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