THE SCIENCE OF COLOR

Colors would not be visible without light because color is light either reflected off of objects we see or viewed directly from the light source. When light passes through a prism, the light beam changes direction, and the wavelengths are separated, causing the prism to produce the colors.

The primary pigment colors are red, yellow and blue, however, the primary colors of light are red, green (not yellow) and blue, called RGB. The pigment color system does not apply to computer monitors because colors are created on monitors by adding light. Black is the absence of light and therefore the absence of color. Secondary colors, such as cyan, magenta and yellow, are created by combining the primary colors. White is achieved by adding the three primary colors together in equal amounts.

There is a third color system called subtractive, called CMYK. The primary colors of the subtractive system are cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y), the same colors that are the secondary colors of the RGB system. The letter "K" in CMYK stands for black.The secondary colors of the subtractive system are red, green and blue, the primary colors of the additive system.