Is white a colour?

Serabi
Serabi:

When is white a colour? Logic tells me that black is more of a colour since you mix colours to get black. All wave lengths are absorbed hence no reflection of a single colour reaches your eyes, this would make black not a colour. But an object reflecting all wave lengths, would then not be a colour either as we ...

I'm lost here...
(Edited by Serabi)
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Corwin
Corwin: White is the combination of all visible wavelengths... so in a sense, white is all colours.
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dave3974
dave3974: yes
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Serabi
Serabi:

But you cannot mix paint colours to get white. If you mix all colours you get black! To determine the colour of an object your eyes observe the colour wave length bounced off an object. Therefore, if all colours bounce off, that means the object has no colour of its own. Titanium is used to give objects the reflective ability, hence white.

I found a very nice explanation on colormatters.com. It seems as though the jury is still out on whether white or black can be considered colours.

The question:
Are black and white colors when generated as light?

The answers:
1. Black is the absence of colour (and is therefore not a colour)

Explanation:
When there is no light, everything is black. Test this out by going into a photographic dark room. There are no photons of light. In other words, there are no photons of colors.

2. White is the blending of all colors and is a colour.

Explanation:
Light appears colourless or white. Sunlight is white light that is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. A rainbow is proof. You can't see the colors of sunlight except when atmospheric conditions bend the light rays and create a rainbow. You can also use a prism to demonstrate this.

Fact: The sum of all the colours of light add up to white. This is additive colour theory.

But:-

The question:

Are black and white colors when they exist as pigments or as molecular coloring agents?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.

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 colour when you are referring to the color of pigments and the coloring agents of tangible objects.

2. White is not a colour.
... but .... in some cases you could say that white is a colour.

Small things amuses small minds!

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Hyenablood
Hyenablood: yeah people can argue about the color white. I think of paint when I think of mixing color. You go to a paint store and ask for a egg shell white, they will mix chemical together to get that white. For us everyday people with our store bought paints, it cannot happen, we cannot get white with our paints, crayons or whatnot. Only nature and man made chemicals can produce the white.
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XWhiteandBlue
XWhiteandBlue: Remember there are 2 "Color wheels" (paradigms to mix color)

The color wheel of light (all colors = white/ no colors =black)
The color wheel of paint/ink (Red/Green/Blue primary colors and white/ black are just gradations of light/dark that can modyfy any of these)

In teality, there is no such thing as color... just the variance in the wavelenth on the visible light spectrum...


Nevertheless, knowing that doesn't make a rainbow any less beautiful, or miraculous
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Serabi
Serabi: XW, how right you are! Nothing like a rainbow after a thunderstorm... which leads me to another question.

Why does the 'inside' area of a rainbow appear so much lighter than the outside? Did you know that the double rainbows are mirrors of each other?

I feel sad for people afflicted by colour blindness. Colour brings joy to nature and life.
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Corwin
Corwin: Double rainbow!!!!! What does it mean???!!!
(haha... okay, that is getting a bit old )

I'm colourblind... but you don't need to pity me. I actually just see a different world that is no less miraculous than yours. I see definition more clearly, I can see in the dark, and can read a newspaper from 20 feet away.
The term "colorblind" is a bit misleading... it could just as well be referred to as "colour-filtration / vision-enhancement". The cones on the retina responsible for the colour green and some red (which is responsible for most glare and saturation) are replaced with more cones that see contrast, definition, and detect movement... the same sort of vision found in predatory animals. (It renders camouflage ineffective). So in reality, I see plenty that someone with ordinary vision does not.
It's only a handicap if I was to pursue a career as an electrician, or an airline pilot, or I suppose an interior decorator.
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Hyenablood
Hyenablood: yes and I've heard that color blindness is more dominate in men than it is in women. Kind of scary that we couldn't 'camouflage' ourselves from you guys, you'd just see us.
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lori100
lori100: white is a color, it is in the Crayola Crayon Box......Crayola wouldn't lie......
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Hyenablood
Hyenablood: crayola lies, it lies to all of us ! *sob* It lied to me ! never called me back or wrote any letters.
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Corwin
Corwin: I also have an uncanny ability for finding Waldo.
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Serabi
Serabi:

Corvin, do you find that it bothers you at all in everyday life? What do you see when you look a rainbow? Which type of colour deficiency do you have?

Who's Waldo? What do you do when you find him????

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Corwin
Corwin: I see much less red, but almost no green at all. Primary-red looks red to me, but purple looks like blue. Green looks grey (or white in the case of traffic signals). Grass looks greyish-orange.
Under the right light conditions Ketchup and Chocolate syrup looks the same.
Rainbows are just as beautiful as far as I know... but I imagine that there are subtle bands of pinks and greens that I simply don't see. I'm fine with primary colours (except green).
Most of this I just take for granted, and it doesn't effect everyday life for the most part.
And the gain in visual acuity and my night-vision is a bonus... you might be surprised to see through my eyes in that respect.

But around the office, things like this are routine ---- I'll ask the secretary, "Which button do I press on the new copy-machine to send a FAX again?"
Secretary rolls her eyes, and responds, "The GREEN one!?"
I roll my eyes and ask, "And which one is the green one again?"
Secretary looks at me like an idiot and replies, "Right above the RED one!?"
I tap my foot for a moment and glare at the secretary... the same secretary I've worked with for 6 years....
She eventually remembers and says, "Oh.... right... third down from the top right."

You can tell people a hundred times that you're colourblind, and it just goes out the other ear.
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c0ncept
c0ncept: Is Infrared a color? or Ultraviolet? What about 104 dot 5 FM? They are all on the electromagnetic spectrum with visible light colors.
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c0ncept
c0ncept: PS: Ignore the simple answer saying they are not by definition since they do not fall in the visible spectrum between about 400 and 750nm. Then you can have fun with answering that.
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c0ncept
c0ncept: for those still seeking the answer or a better understanding, look up the electromagnetic spectrum. You will see the spectrum of wavelengths, and white is a jumble of the ones in the visible spectrum that we see, so it's a jumbled up wavelength I suppose instead of a clean nice one.
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XWhiteandBlue
XWhiteandBlue: Can you imagine how the world would look if you could "see" the entire spectrum (down from infrared... up to Gamma rays)??

Actually some insects can see in IR, and UV, and some flowers are actually patterned/colored in those spectrums specifically to atract them!

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Corwin
Corwin: Yeah... I've wondered why I am so attracted to flowers...
... many times I've found myself woken up in a flower bed... surrounded by snakes and radioactive space-monkeys who can see the full spectrum...

They invite me onto their spaceship, but I decline.... every time that happens I end up getting probed in places I would rather not have been probed...
... but thanks to their mind-erasing beam, I usually just wake up not remembering anything, and just find myself wondering why I can't remember the night before... and why my ass burns so much.

This is the life of the color-blind...... and those who are frequently abducted by aliens.
It's a hard life... but we get by.... with our wits and our ability to at least remember a fragment of what happened to us.

There is a support group for people like us... I'll send you the link---

http: peoplewhocantseecolor/alienabduction/forgotenassprobes.com
(Edited by Corwin)
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Hyenablood
Hyenablood: hahaha haha, oh god ! Corvin I can totally picture everything you just posted !! too funny !!
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the real slim DEEPy
the real slim DEEPy: white is the result of all spectrum of light, it is not a color.
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lori100
lori100: ahem.......white is a color, it is in the Crayola Crayon Box......Crayola wouldn't lie......
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CoIin
CoIin: Well, this depends on how we define it. There are several kinds of definition:-

1. A stipulative definition - This is the best kind, i.e. you get to invent your own definition

An example would be WireClub's "threadcrapping" policy. What does threadcrapping mean? - exactly what WireClub says it means.

2. A lexical definition - This just tells us how the word is generally used. The meaning of the word JUST IS the way we use it.

Under this definition, white is clearly a color. E.g.

Bob: What color is the shirt?
Jim: It's white

3. A real definition

This assumes that we are tracking something "out there" in the world. We give "gold" a real definition. That is to say, we believe there is really something out there in the world called gold. The definition is imposed by it on us. Gold will decide what gold is, thank you very much



Conclusion: Beats me
(Edited by CoIin)
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Serabi
Serabi:

The jury is still out on both black and white!

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mari86coul
mari86coul: black is the best of colors
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Corwin
Corwin: I agree... I love wearing black. Most of my wardrobe is black... it looks cool, it goes with everything, it matches my Harley, and I don't have to waste time in the morning deciding what to wear.

Just like the bad guys in the old Western movies.

^^^ Lemmy is God.
(Edited by Corwin)
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