Colour

Alternative Title: color

Classify colors on the visible spectrum of electromagnetic radiation by hue, saturation, and
brightness
Colours result from the electromagnetic radiation of a range of wavelengths that are visible to the
eye. The three characteristics of hue, saturation, and brightness are commonly used to distinguish
one colour from another.
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Colour, also spelled color, 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 distinguish colours. Only when more light is present do colours appear.
Light of some critical intensity, therefore, is also necessary for colour perception. Finally, the
manner in which the brain responds to visual stimuli must also be considered. Even under
identical conditions, the same object may appear red to one observer and orange to another.
Clearly, the perception of colour depends on vision, light, and individual interpretation, and an
understanding of colour involves physics, physiology, and psychology.
An object appears coloured because of the way it interacts with light. The analysis of this
interaction and the factors that determine it are the concerns of the physics of colour. The
physiology of colour involves the eye’s and the brain’s responses to light and the sensory data
they produce. The psychology of colour is invoked when the mind processes visual data,
compares it with information stored in memory, and interprets it as colour.
This article concentrates on the physics of colour. For a discussion of colour as a quality of
light, see light and electromagnetic radiation. For the physiological aspects of colour
vision, see eye: Colour vision. See also painting for a discussion of the psychological
and aesthetic uses of colour.
Colour And Light
The nature of colour
Aristotle viewed colour to be the product of a mixture of white and black, and this was the
prevailing belief until 1666, when Isaac Newton’s prism experiments provided the scientific
basis for the understanding of colour. Newton showed that a prism could break up white light
into a range of colours, which he called the spectrum (see figure), and that the recombination of
these spectral colours re-created the white light. Although he recognized that the spectrum was
continuous, Newton used the seven colour names red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,
and violet for segments of the spectrum by analogy with the seven notes of the musical scale.
Isaac Newton's prism experiment
Isaac Newton's prism experiment, 1666.
Newton realized that colours other than those in the spectral sequence do exist, but he noted that
all the colours in the universe which are made by light, and depend not on the power of
imagination, are either the colours of homogeneal lights [i.e., spectral colours],
or compounded  of these.
Newton also recognized that rays, to speak properly, are not coloured. In them there is nothing
else than a certain power…to stir up a sensation of this or that colour.
The unexpected difference between light perception and sound perception clarifies this curious
aspect of colour. When beams of light of different colours, such as red and yellow, are projected
together onto a white surface in equal amounts, the resulting perception of the eye signals a
single colour (in this case, orange) to the brain, a signal that may be identical to that produced by
a single beam of light. When, however, two musical tones are sounded simultaneously, the
individual tones can still be easily discerned; the sound produced by a combination of tones is
never identical to that of a single tone. A tone is the result of a specific sound wave, but a colour
can be the result of a single light beam or a combination of any number of light beams.
A colour can, however, be precisely specified by its hue, saturation, and brightness—three
attributes sufficient to distinguish it from all other possible perceived colours. The hue is that
aspect of colour usually associated with terms such as red, orange, yellow, and so forth.
Saturation (also known as chroma or tone) refers to relative purity. When a pure, vivid, strong
shade of red is mixed with a variable amount of white, weaker or paler reds are produced, each
having the same hue but a different saturation. These paler colours are called unsaturated
colours. Finally, light of any given combination of hue and saturation can have a variable
brightness (also called intensity or value), which depends on the total amount of light energy
present.

Colour
The visible spectrum

Uncover through science what makes black color the way it is and how researchers are
developing the real pure version of black
Learn why the colour black appears the way it does and how researchers are creating purer
versions of it.
Newton demonstrated that colour is a quality of light. To understand colour, therefore, it is
necessary to know something about light. As a form of electromagnetic radiation, light has
properties in common with both waves and particles. It can be thought of as a stream of minute
energy packets radiated at varying frequencies in a wave motion. Any given beam of light has
specific values of frequency, wavelength, and energy associated with it. Frequency, which is the
number of waves passing a fixed point in space in a unit of time, is commonly expressed in units
of hertz (1 Hz = 1 cycle per second). Wavelength is the distance between corresponding points of
two consecutive waves and is often expressed in units of metres—for instance, nanometres (1 nm
= 10−9 metre). The energy of a light beam can be compared to that possessed by a small particle
moving at the velocity of light, except that no particle having a rest mass could move at such a
velocity. The name photon, used for the smallest quantity of light of any given wavelength, is
meant to encompass this duality, including both the wave and particle
characteristics inherent in wave mechanics and quantum mechanics. The energy of a photon is
often expressed in units of electron volts (1 eV = 1.602 × 10−12 erg); it is directly proportional to
frequency and inversely proportional to wavelength.
Light is not the only type of electromagnetic radiation—it is, in fact, only a small segment of the
total electromagnetic spectrum—but it is the one form the eye can perceive. Wavelengths of light
range from about 400 nm at the violet end of the spectrum to 700 nm at the red end (see table).
(The limits of the visible spectrum are not sharply defined but vary among individuals; there is
some extended visibility for high-intensity light.) At shorter wavelengths the electromagnetic
spectrum extends to the ultraviolet radiation region and continues through X-rays, gamma rays,
and cosmic rays. Just beyond the red end of the spectrum are the longer wave infrared
radiation rays (which can be felt as heat), microwaves, and radio waves. Radiation of a single
frequency is called monochromatic. When this frequency falls in the range of the visible
spectrum, the colour perception produced is that of a saturated hue.

Range of the visible spectrum

wavelength
colour* frequency (1014 Hz) energy (eV)
(nm)

*Typical values only.

red (limit) 700 4.29 1.77

 Range of the visible spectrum

wavelength
colour* frequency (1014 Hz) energy (eV)
(nm)

red 650 4.62 1.91

orange 600 5.00 2.06

yellow 580 5.16 2.14

green 550 5.45 2.25

cyan 500 5.99 2.48

blue 450 6.66 2.75

violet (limit) 400 7.50 3.10

The laws of colour mixture

Colours of the spectrum are called chromatic colours; there are also nonchromatic colours such
as the browns, magentas, and pinks. The term achromatic colours is sometimes applied to the
black-gray-white sequence. According to some estimates, the eye can distinguish some 10
million colours, all of which derive from two types of light mixture: additive and subtractive. As
the names imply, additive mixture involves the addition of spectral components, and subtractive
mixture concerns the subtraction or absorption of parts of the spectrum.
Additive mixing occurs when beams of light are combined. The colour circle, first devised by
Newton, is still widely used for purposes of colour design and is also useful when the qualitative
behaviour of mixing beams of light is considered. Newton’s colour circle combines the spectral
colours red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, indigo, and blue-violet with the nonspectral colour
magenta (a mixture of blue-violet and red light beams), as shown in the figure. White is at the
centre and is produced by mixing light beams of approximately equal intensities
of complementary colours (colours that are diametrically opposed on the colour circle), such as
yellow and blue-violet, green and magenta, or cyan and red. Intermediate colours can be
produced by mixing light beams, so mixing red and yellow gives orange, red and blue-violet
gives magenta, and so on.

One form of Newton's colour circle.

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The three additive primary colours are red, green, and blue; this means that, by additively mixing
the colours red, green, and blue in varying amounts, almost all other colours can be produced,
and, when the three primaries are added together in equal amounts, white is produced.
Additive mixing can be demonstrated physically by using three slide projectors fitted with filters
so that one projector shines a beam of saturated red light onto a white screen, another a beam of
saturated blue light, and the third a beam of saturated green light. Additive mixing occurs where
the beams overlap (and thus are added together), as shown in the figure (left). Where red and
green beams overlap, yellow is produced. If more red light is added or if the intensity of the
green light is decreased, the light mixture becomes orange. Similarly, if there is more green light
than red light, a yellow-green is produced.
(Left) The additive mixing of red, green, and blue. (Right) The subtractive mixing of magenta,
yellow, and cyan.
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Subtractive colour mixing involves the absorption and selective transmission or reflection of
light. It occurs when colorants (such as pigments or dyes) are mixed or when several coloured
filters are inserted into a single beam of white light. For example, if a projector is fitted with a
deep red filter, the filter will transmit red light and absorb other colours. If the projector is fitted
with a strong green filter, red light will be absorbed and only green light transmitted. If,
therefore, the projector is fitted with both red and green filters, all colours will be absorbed and
no light transmitted, resulting in black. Similarly, a yellow pigment absorbs blue and violet light
while reflecting yellow, green, and red light (the green and red additively combining to produce
more yellow). Blue pigment absorbs primarily yellow, orange, and red light. If the yellow and
blue pigments are mixed, green will be produced since it is the only spectral component that is
not strongly absorbed by either pigment.
Because additive processes have the greatest gamut when the primaries are red, green, and blue,
it is reasonable to expect that the greatest gamut in subtractive processes will be achieved when
the primaries are, respectively, red-absorbing, green-absorbing, and blue-absorbing. The colour
of an image that absorbs red light while transmitting all other radiations is blue-green, often
called cyan. An image that absorbs only green light transmits both blue light and red light, and
its colour is magenta. The blue-absorbing image transmits only green light and red light, and its
colour is yellow. Hence, the subtractive primaries are cyan, magenta, and yellow (see figure,
right).
No concepts in the field of colour have traditionally been more confused than those just
discussed. This confusion can be traced to two prevalent misnomers: the subtractive primary
cyan, which is properly a blue-green, is commonly called blue; and the subtractive primary
magenta is commonly called red. In these terms, the subtractive primaries become red, yellow,
and blue; and those whose experience is confined for the most part to subtractive mixtures have
good cause to wonder why the physicist insists on regarding red, green, and blue as the primary
colours. The confusion is at once resolved when it is realized that red, green, and blue are
selected as additive primaries because they provide the greatest colour gamut in mixtures. For
the same reason, the subtractive primaries are, respectively, red-absorbing (cyan), green-
absorbing (magenta), and blue-absorbing (yellow).

The Measurement Of Colour

The measurement of colour is known as colorimetry. A variety of instruments are used in this
field. The most sophisticated, the spectrophotometers, analyze light in terms of the amount of
energy present at each spectral wavelength. The emittance curves for light sources (see figure)
are typical spectrophotometer results, as is the reflectance curve of the paint pigment known
as emerald green, as shown in the figure.
The energy distribution in light from daylight, an incandescent lamp, and a fluorescent lamp.
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Spectral reflectance curve of the artist's pigment emerald green.

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It is difficult to describe the colour of a specific spectral energy distribution. Since the eye
perceives only a single colour for any given energy distribution, it is necessary to express colour
measurements in a perception-related way. Several systems exist, and some are outlined below.
Tristimulus measurement and chromaticity diagrams
Uncover the reason why the sky is not purple with the help of a chromaticity diagram
Explanation using a chromaticity diagram to explain why the sky is not purple.
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The tristimulus system is based on visually matching a colour under standardized conditions
against the three primary colours—red, green, and blue; the three results are expressed as X, Y,
and Z, respectively, and are called tristimulus values. The tristimulus values of the emerald-green
pigment are X = 22.7, Y = 39.1, and Z = 31.0. These values specify not only colour but also
visually perceived reflectance, since they are calculated in such a way that the Y value equals a
sample’s reflectivity (39.1 percent in this example) when visually compared with a
standard white surface by a standard (average) viewer under average daylight. The tristimulus
values can also be used to determine the visually perceived dominant spectral wavelength (which
is related to the hue) of a given sample; the dominant wavelength of the emerald-green pigment
is 511.9 nm.
Such data can be graphically represented on a standard chromaticity diagram (see also the
location of emerald green on a chromaticity diagram). Standardized by the Commission
Internationale d’Éclairage (CIE) in 1931, the chromaticity diagram is based on the values x, y,
and z, where x = X/(X + Y + Z), y = Y/(X + Y + Z), and z = Z/(X + Y + Z). Note that x + y + z = 1;
thus, if two values are known, the third can always be calculated and the z value is usually
omitted. The x and y values together constitute the chromaticity of a sample. Light and dark
colours that have the same chromaticity (and are therefore plotted at the same point on the two-
dimensional chromaticity diagram) are distinguished by their different Y values (luminance, or
visually perceived brightness).

The location on the chromaticity diagram of the achromatic point W, the emerald-green
pigment E, a red apple R, the incandescence curve with temperatures in kelvins, and the standard
CIE illuminants A, B, and C.
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When their x and y coefficients are plotted on a chromaticity diagram, the spectral colours from
400 nm to 700 nm follow a horseshoe-shaped curve; the nonspectral violet-red mixtures fall
along the straight line joining the 400-nm point to the 700-nm point. All visible colours fall
within the resulting closed curve, as shown in the standard chromaticity diagram. Points along
the circumference correspond to saturated colours; pale unsaturated colours appear closer to the
centre of the diagram. The achromatic point is the central point at x = 1/3, y = 1/3 (shown as W in
the figure), where visually perceived white is located (as well as the pure grays and black, which
vary only in the magnitude of the luminance Y).
A straight line connecting any two points representing beams of light includes all the points
representing colours formed by adding various amounts of the two beams. If the line passes
through the achromatic point, the colours represented by its endpoints, when additively
combined in the appropriate amounts, must form white; therefore, all lines passing through the
achromatic point terminate on the closed curve in saturated complementary colours.
By plotting the calculated x = 0.245 and y = 0.421 of the emerald-green pigment at point E on the
chromaticity diagram, as shown in the figure, and extending a line through it from the
achromatic point W to the saturated spectral boundary, it is possible to determine the dominant
wavelength of the pigment colour, 511.9 nm. The colour of the pigment is the visual equivalent
of adding white light and light of 511.9 nm in amounts proportional to the lengths n (the distance
between points E and W) and m (the distance between E and the point of the dominant
wavelength). The purity equals 100n/(m + n) percent—in this case, 22.8 percent. A purity of 100
percent corresponds to a pure saturated spectral colour and 0 percent to the achromatic colours
(white, gray, and black).
The colour of a specific red apple of Y = 13.0, x = 0.460, y = 0.287 has its x and y values plotted
at R, as shown in the figure. The line from the achromatic point W intersects the chromaticity
diagram boundary at a saturated nonspectral purple-red at P. The dominant colour designation is
then obtained by extrapolating the line in the opposite direction to a saturated spectral colour and
is given as “complementary dominant wavelength 495 nm,” or 495c. The colour of this apple is
therefore the visual equivalent of a mixture of white light and the 495c saturated purple-red in
the intensity ratio of the distances p to q with a purity of 100p/(p + q) percent.
Light from incandescent sources, further described below, falls on the solid curve marked with
temperatures in this figure, following the sequence saturated red to saturated orange to
unsaturated yellow to white to unsaturated bluish white for an infinite temperature indicated as
∞. The points A, B, and C on the curve are CIE standard illuminants that approximate,
respectively, a 100-watt incandescent filament lamp at a colour temperature of about 2,850 K,
noon sunlight (about 4,800 K), and average daylight (about 6,500 K).
Colour atlases
Calculating chromaticity and luminance is a scientific method of determining a colour, but, for
the rapid visual determination of the colour of objects, a colour atlas such as the Munsell Book of
Color is often used. In this system colours are matched to printed colour chips from a three-
dimensional colour solid whose parameters are hue, value (corresponding to reflectance), and
chroma (corresponding to purity, or saturation). These three parameters are illustrated
schematically in the figure. The central vertical axis provides a 10-step value scale extending
from black at the bottom to white at the top. There are 100 hues divided into 10 groups around
the vertical axis; each group has a colour name and consists of 10 subdivisions assigned a
number from 1 to 10. The chroma scale starts at 0 at the vertical axis and extends radially
outward from 10 to 18 steps depending on hue and value. The red apple discussed earlier would
be designated 10RP 4/10 in the Munsell system, indicating a specific reddish purple hue 10RP, a
value of 4, and a chroma of 10. Interpolated values are used to give more precise designations, so
the emerald-green pigment can be specified as 5.0G 6.7/11.2.

Munsell colour system

Munsell colour system.
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The hue, value, and chroma coordinates of Munsell's colour solid.
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A system that is useful when such precision is not required is the ISCC-NBS (Inter-Society
Color Council–National Bureau of Standards) Centroid Color Charts. It has 267 numbered
colour designations and uses descriptive terms such as very pale purple, light yellowish brown,
and grayish blue; the red apple is 258 (moderate purplish red) in this system, and the emerald-
green pigment is 139 (vivid green). Other colour atlases include the Ostwald colour system,
based on mixtures of white, black, and a high chroma colour; the Maerz and Paul dictionary of
colour; the Plochere colour system; and the Ridgway colour standards.
Ostwald colour system
Ostwald colour system.
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Physical and Chemical Causes Of Colour

According to the law of energy conservation, energy can be converted from one form to another,
but it cannot be created or destroyed. Consequently, when a photon of light is absorbed by
matter, usually by an atom, molecule, or ion or by a small grouping of such units, the photon
disappears and its energy is gained by the matter. Similarly, when matter emits light, it loses the
energy carried away by the photons. A given atom or molecule cannot emit light of any arbitrary
energy, since quantum theory explains that only certain energy states are possible for a given
system.
An example of permitted energy levels is shown at the left in the figure for the trivalent
chromium ion present in a crystal of aluminum oxide; this is the colorant that provides
the red colour of the gemstone ruby. Present in this energy-level scheme is the ground state,
designated 4A2; this is the energy state of the chromium ion in ruby when in the dark.
When illuminated by white light, either a photon of energy 2.2 eV or a photon of energy 3.0 eV
can be absorbed, raising the system to the 4T2 or 4T1 energy levels, respectively. (In this system
light cannot be absorbed into the level 2E because of certain quantum limitations, designated
selection rules.) These two energy transitions, broadened by the thermal atomic vibrations at
room temperature into absorption bands, correspond to absorption of the violet and green-yellow
parts of white light passing through the ruby, as shown at the centre in the figure. The remaining
transmitted light consists of the strong red and weak blue parts of the spectrum, resulting in the
deep red ruby colour with a slight purple overtone.
(Left) The energy level diagram of ruby with allowed transitions and (centre) the resulting
absorption and fluorescence spectra. (Right) The absorption and fluorescence spectra of emerald.
From K. Nassau,  Physics and Chemistry of Color (1983); John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The chromium ion in ruby now contains excess energy, but the selection rules permit return to
the ground state only through the intermediate 2E energy level, as shown at left in the figure. Part
of the absorbed energy appears as a slight warming of the ruby. The other part is emitted as a
photon producing a bright red fluorescence (best seen when the ruby is illuminated
with ultraviolet radiation in the dark). The ruby has now returned to the ground state, and energy
has been conserved. This is just one explanation of the occurrence of colour. Although all
occurrences or causes of colour involve the excitation of electrons, this article, to simplify
explanation, classifies the physical and chemical causes of colour into 15 groups. The first three
involve transitions among the energy levels of excitations, vibrations, and rotations as explained
by quantum theory. The next four involve modifications of this approach covered by the ligand
field and molecular orbital theories. The following four involve the energy band formalism
of solid state physics, and the final four are explained by geometrical and physical optics theory.
Simple excitations, vibrations, and rotations
Incandescence
Incandescent light is produced when hot matter releases parts of its thermal vibration energy as
photons. At medium temperatures, say 800 °C (1,500 °F), the object’s radiation energy reaches a
peak in the infrared, with only a small intensity at the red end of the visible spectrum. As the
temperature is raised, the peak moves toward and finally into the visible region. At successively
higher temperatures the object becomes “red-hot,” then orange, yellow, and finally “white-hot”;
the very hottest of stars have a bluish-white colour. This sequence of colours is known as
the blackbody radiation sequence. Examples of incandescence include daylight, candlelight, and
light from tungsten filament lamps, flashbulbs, the carbon arc, and pyrotechnic devices such as
flares and fireworks (see figure).
Gas excitation
Gas excitation involves the emission of light by a chemical element present as a gas or vapour.
When a gas such as neon or a vaporized element such as sodium or mercury is excited
electrically, the electrical energy raises the atoms into high energy states, from which they decay
back to ground state with the emission of photons. This leads to the red light seen in neon tubes
and the yellow and blue light seen in sodium and mercury vapour lamps, respectively. The same
yellow sodium light is emitted when sodium atoms are thermally excited by being heated in a gas
flame. In addition to being produced electrically or by chemical reactions, gas excitations can
also result from interaction with energetic particles, as in auroras, where energetic particles
emitted in solar storms excite gases high in the Earth’s atmosphere to produce various colour
effects.
Vibrations and rotations
All molecules have some vibration or rotation energy as a result of chemical bonding, but the
energy involved is too low to interact directly with visible light. The frequency of vibration can
be increased, however, by strengthening the chemical bonding involving very light atoms. For
example, the bond between hydrogen and oxygen is stronger in liquid water and solid ice than in
an isolated H2O molecule. The corresponding increase in vibration frequencies allows some
absorption at the red end of the spectrum and produces the pale blue colour characteristic of pure
water and ice when seen in bulk.

Ligand fields
Transition metal impurities
Most chemical compounds are colourless when pure; examples include sodium
chloride (ordinary table salt), aluminum oxide, naphthalene (moth flakes), and diamond. In these
compounds all electrons are present in pairs. Such paired electrons are particularly stable and
require very high energies to become unpaired and form excited energy levels. Only ultraviolet
light is energetic enough to be absorbed, which explains the absence of visible light absorptions
and the absence of colour. The compounds of a number of metals—most
commonly iron, chromium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese—do, however, produce coloured salts.
These metals are the transition elements, which contain unpaired electrons in their compounds.
Excited energy levels are readily formed by these unpaired electrons, resulting in the absorption
of photons and the production of colour.