• Question: Is it true that when we see colour (eg. Blue) it is light reflecting all the colours but blue?

    Asked by dizzyg12 to Dilwar, Lou, Rachel, Simon, Susan on 19 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 19 Nov 2013:

      Hi dizzyg
      No it isn’t like that. When we see an object as blue it is because the object is reflecting light back at the wavelengths that correspond to blue colour.

    • Photo: Susan Skelton

      Susan Skelton answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      No, dizzy – it’s the other way round!
      I’ll explain…

      As you probably know, light that looks “white” (like light from the sun or from a light bulb) is actually made up of all different colours of light added together – red, blue, green, yellow, purple etc. When this light shines on an object, the object can either reflect or absorb some of the light.

      If you look at a blue balloon, the balloon reflects most of the blue light. This means that the blue light bounces off the balloon and goes back towards you and into your eyes. The other colours of light (like red and green) are absorbed by the balloon. That means that the red and the green light stays in the balloon and doesn’t ever reach your eyes. The only light that you see is blue light – that’s why you see the balloon as being blue!

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