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Scattering of Light

The Earth’s atmosphere contains fine particles such as gas, water vapor and dust molecules. The scattering of light is a process where light is reflected and scattered in all directions by these suspended particles in the atmosphere. When sunlight shines through the Earth’s atmosphere, its component lights will be scattered in all directions by fine particles. Different colors of light are scattered in different amounts. Particles in the atmosphere are more effective at scattering shorter wavelengths than the longer wavelengths of light.

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Blue Skies

During the daytime, sunlight travels through a thin layer of atmosphere. Red and orange light are scattered the least by tiny particles because its wavelength is the longest. Violet and blue light are scattered the most by tiny particles because its wavelength is the shortest. This gives the sky its blue appearance. Violet light is not seen because our eyes are more sensitive to blue light. Hence more blue light enters our eyes.

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Red Sunsets

At sunset, has to travel a longer distance in the atmosphere. This is because the position of the Sun in the sky gets lower during this time. Therefore, most of the blue light is scattered in the atmosphere.

By the time sunlight reaches our eyes, most of the blue light has been scattered out. This leaves only light from the red end of the spectrum which travels towards us with little or no scattering. This is why the Sun appears red during sunsets.

A sunset is more reddish if the atmosphere is more polluted with dust and smoke. This is because there will be more suspended particles in the atmosphere, causing more blue and violet light to be scattered away.

Addition of Colored Lights

Primary colors are colors that cannot be obtained by adding two or more colors. The primary colors of light are red, green and blue. The secondary colors of light are magenta, cyan and yellow. Secondary colors are obtained from the addition of two primary colors. Complementary colors are pair of two colors, a primary color and a secondary color, which combines to form a white light.

White light is obtained by adding all the three primary colors of light or all the secondary colors of light with equal intensity:

Red + green + blue = white light

Yellow + magenta + cyan = white light

The addition of primary colors of light will produce different colors except black.

The Importance of Color in Daily Life

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Uses of Color in Daily Life

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Color Printing

Printing is a process of producing copies of text and pictures. The printing of a color picture is based on the principle of subtraction of colors. The colors of the pigments or ink used in the printing process are yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Four plates in yellow, magenta, cyan and black ink are used to print onto a white paper. The mixing of yellow, magenta and cyan inks will produced all other colors. Black ink is then used to produce a sharper print.

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Electrical Wiring

The electrical wiring system in our home uses the international color code to represent the live, neutral and earth wires. The use of colors enables us to identify and handle electrical wiring safely.

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Traffic Lights

Traffic lights are used to control the flow of traffic. Traffic lights have three color signals: red, amber and green light.

Symbols and Logos

The color of symbols and logos represent certain ideas or meaning. Our National flag has four colors. The color yellow stands for royalty, dark blue stands for the unity of the people whereas red and white stand for the equal status in the federation of the member states and the federal government.

Red light is usually used to signal danger. Red lights are installed in light houses, high rise towers and buildings, uneven roads or roads under maintenance at night to warn others of danger and to be careful. Yellow lines painted by the side of roads indicate no parking. A tallow box painted with yellow stripes at a junction indicates that no vehicle is followed to stop inside the box.

The Importance of Color to Living Things

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To Humans

Colors are used by human being everywhere. They are used to differentiate things, recognize an area, beauty homes and promote commercial products. Colors are also used to convey a certain meaning and mark gadgets. Colors are also used in food and drinks to make it look more attractive and appealing. Human use color in the form of colorful nail varnishes, lipsticks and hair colorants to make them look beautiful. Color is also used to convey the emotions of humans. Pink is associated with energy while yellow symbolizes happiness.

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To Animals

Color is important for the survival of animals. Animals depend on color to a) protect themselves from their predators or hide themselves from the preys b) attract the attention of mates c) warn their enemies.

Some animals camouflage themselves so that the color of their bodies is similar to their surroundings. Some animals do so to hide from their predators. For example, the dead leaf butterfly has a leaf like a pattern on its wing while zebras have irregular black and white stripes to confuse their predators as it is difficult to tell one zebra from another in a large herd.

Other animals camouflage themselves to hunt for preys. For example, the sandy colored fur of lions makes them difficult to be seen amongst long dry grass. The snowy white fur of polar bears enables them to hunt without being seen easily in the snowy white arctic region whereas chameleons can change the color of their skin according to their surroundings.

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Animals with attractive colors on their bodies use these colors to attract attention of the opposite sex during the mating season. For example, peacocks have colorful feathers to attract peahens. While the male fighting fish have colorful scales to attract female fighting fish.

Animals also use the bright colors of their bodies to warn and protect themselves from their predators. For example, insects that are black-orange, yellow-black and black-red in color are usually poisonous. The yellow stripes of wasps will frighten birds away.

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To Plants

Colors also play an important role in the survival of plants. Some plants have bright colorful flowers to attract butterflies, bees and birds to pollinate the flowers. Some fruits turn orange and red when they ripen, thus attracting animals like birds, monkeys and squirrels which then help in the dispersal of seeds. The green chlorophyll in leaves absorbs sunlight during photosynthesis to help plants make food.

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Mixing Pigments

A pigment is a coloring material found in organic compounds and minerals such as plants, insects, rocks and soil. Pigments are responsible for most of the colors in plants and animals.

Pigments Colors

Chlorophyll in green plants Green

Melanin in hair, feathers and skin of animals Brown or black

Hemoglobin in red blood cells Red

Charcoal Black

Turmeric Yellow

Grapes Dark red, violet

Lead oxide Red

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Uses of Pigments

Pigments are widely used in the marking of paints, dyes and ink. Buildings will appear brighter and more attractive when it is coated with paint. Surfaces made from wood and metal are prevented from rotting and erosion by painting. In the textile industry, dyes are used to color clothes to make them look more attractive. Color pigments such as yellow, magenta, and cyan are used in color printing to produce other colors.

In art, the mixing of colored pigments produces different colors in oil and water color paintings. Some people use natural pigments from plants such as henna to dye their fingers and palms (Henna is used to color and decorate the hand with designs). Pigments are also used as coloring agents in the fond industry. Plant pigments are mostly used as colorings in food such as cakes and pastas to make them more attractive.

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In the cosmetic industry, pigments are used in lipstick, nail varnishes, and hair dyes. The colors of lipstick are derived from pigments obtained from dried insects or cochineal. In plants, the green chlorophyll pigment is vital in the process of photosynthesis.

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Colors Info Gallery

In dim light, everything appears to be in shades of black and white because the cone cells in our eyes which are responsible for detecting color do not work well in dim light.

The cuttlefish is one of the fastest adapting camouflage animals. It is able to change its color from red to brown in less than one second.

Mixing primary colors of pigments produces black while the addition of primary colors of light produces white.

Sir Isaac Newton, an English scientist, was the first person to separate sunlight into a spectrum of seven colors.

Primary colors of pigments are red, blue and yellow. Secondary colors of pigments are violet, orange and green.

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The Mediterranean chameleon has the ability to alter its color and blend into its surrounding.