Q: How do we see colors?

A: Look at the world around you. You see colors everywhere, all day long. What makes objects certain colors? How do we see them? First, light, white light, is a combination of many different wavelengths. Each wavelength is a specific color. When light reaches an object, some wavelengths are absorbed and others are reflected. The reflected light is received by light receptors, in our eye communicating this to our brain, which then processes the information and determines the color. There are two different light receptors in your eye, more specifically, your retina. One type of receptors are called rods. Rods mostly interpret black-and-white information to your brain. Cones, the other type of receptors in your retina each process different wavelengths of light which are then stitched together in your brain to form the colors. This all happens almost instantaneously and gives us the sense of colors. For example, a banana is yellow because when light reaches the banana, all the other wavelengths in that light is absorbed except for the wavelength that is yellow. Our eyes see this reflected wavelength which it sends to the brain which interprets the color as yellow showing the banana as yellow. Colors are so integral in our lives, it’s hard to imagine life without it.

Bibliography: http://www.artsparx.com/seeingcolor.html

http://www.pantone.com/pages/Pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=19357&ca=29