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What determines colour?

Colour vision is the ability to discriminate visible light on the basis of wavelength composition. Visible light for humans and most other mammals spans wavelengths between 400 to 700 nm. This allows us to see about two million different colors. Our experience of these colors is through the surfaces of objects. These are presented in the presence of a bright white light. The object absorbs all but one of the wavelengths of this light, and the wavelength it reflects is its color.

My question is: What determines which wavelengths pass through these objects and which are absorbed?

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Answer #1

Well, thank you! And my right mouse button doesn’t work, so, I had to manually copy/paste it. Not fun.. =\ But thank you for noticing, lol. ^.^

And I have another question to follow your answer, but I’m too tired to think of what it is right now, lol. Anyway, thanks again! ^.^

Answer #2

I’m unclear as to why you copy/pasted this paragraph directly from http://explanation.wikidot.com/color-vision.

Anywho.

Short answer: Atoms vibrate, and different atoms vibrate at different frequencies. When a frequency of light strikes an atom and the frequency of the light’s wavelength exactly matches the frequency of the atom’s vibration, the energy of the light is absorbed by the atom and transformed into heat.

Since materials are made up of many different combinations of atoms, materials are seen as many different colors.

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