January 10, 2020 | Dancy Mason

What Is Color?


What is color? We see it every day, and in an almost endless array of shades: hunter green, crimson, royal purple, navy blue. In fact, some of these colors seem so saturated and rich, it might be hard to believe that they are just tricks of the light. No, literally. Keep reading to find out what color really is.


Color Me Surprised

You see, color is light—bear with me here. All light comes in different wavelengths, some shorter and some longer. Depending on the length of the wave, we see this light as different colors. Moreover, although there are lots of different wavelengths, we can only see a certain spectrum, or range, of them—and that spectrum is the colors of the rainbow.

What is Color?Shutterstock

That’s right: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet actually represent the full range of light wavelengths we can see, with red being the longest and violet being the shortest. Of course, there are lots of different shades in between and around these colors, from turquoise to rust to marigold.

If this all sounds a bit confusing, worry not. First, it wasn’t until relatively recently that we even understood color as a property of light. Great thinkers like Aristotle and other ancient scientists circled around the problem as best they could, but it wasn’t until Isaac Newton’s discoveries centuries later that we really started to understand the connection between light and color. Second, we’re going to break it all down for you here.

What is Color?Flickr, Dimitris Kamaras Statue of Isaac Newton in Budapest

Alright, we’ve got the basics of rays of light and wavelength down, but how does this all actually affect the color of the objects we see in the world?

The Color of Money

When all of these different wavelengths and colors are put together, it makes “white light,” which is what we see from the sun. When white light shines on an object in the world—from your couch, to your pen, to your clothing—some of the colors that are mixed into white light will get absorbed into the object, while some of them will bounce off.

So for example, if you’re looking at an orange crayon in the daylight, it appears orange because it’s reflecting orange light wavelengths while absorbing other color wavelengths. Also, get this: When an object like a fridge appears white, that’s because it’s reflecting all the colors of white light equally, giving the color white back. As for black? That’s when an object absorbs all the colors, making black actually the absence of color and light.

Statistically Rare FactsGetty Images

That, of course, is the simple version. How the object actually absorbs certain wavelengths or bounces them off also depends on complicated intricacies of the object’s surface and composition. In other words, there are a lot of different ways for light to be reflected or absorbed. Still, take it as a working model—because there are even more factors that affect our perception of color. Let’s dive in.

A Horse of a Different Color

With so much depending on the play of light, answering “What is color?” can be a tricky thing. But it doesn’t end with light: There are also differences in human perception, culture, and language. A good case study is color blindness, which most commonly manifests as a difficulty distinguishing between the colors red and green.

Coma Survivors FactsShutterstock

How does red-green color blindness work, exactly? Well, human eyes have retinas to distinguish between different light wavelengths—again, allowing us to see that visible light spectrum we talked about above. Specifically, our retinas have three different cone systems to see short, medium, and long wavelengths.

When a long red wavelength comes to regular human eyes, our “long” receptors accordingly get pinged. When a shorter wavelength comes, a different receptor will get pinged. However, these same receptors in color-blind people are less sensitive, which is exactly what makes it difficult for them to tell when they’re getting a red long signal or a shorter green signal; their cones have a hard time distinguishing between the two. Then again, there’s a spectrum of light even “normal” human eyes also can’t see, so who are we to say what color is or isn’t?

What is Color?Shutterstock

That’s just one instance where perception can mess with what “color” really is—and in fact, there are endless variations of what we even call color.  Today, we mostly identify six colors of the rainbow, as we listed above. Yet when Isaac Newton was investigating prisms of light and describing the colors of the rainbow, he split “blue” up into “blue,” which we might now call cyan, and a darker “indigo.”

These kinds of perception and naming differences happen to us every day, making it hard to really pin down what color is. Just think about how you might call a strawberry-blonde woman a “redhead,” while someone else might call her a “blonde.” On the upside, this fluidity does give paint chip companies a plethora of color names and choices to play with.

Things They’ve Seen But Can’t Explain factsPxhere

The Rainbow Connection

As it turns out, from almost the very beginning of our journey to understanding color, none of us have really seen eye-to-eye. Then again, that’s kind of the point. Sure, we know where it comes from: light and its different wavelengths. We also know how objects get color: it’s all in how they absorb or bounce off light. Finally, we know how we perceive color: our retinas have a complex system of wavelength identifiers. Yet color is ultimately always in the eye of the beholder.

Besides, who knows—given a couple more centuries, we might have a lot more left to discover about color.

Sources: 1, 2, 3


More from Factinate

Featured Article

My mom never told me how her best friend died. Years later, I was using her phone when I made an utterly chilling discovery.

Dark Family Secrets

Dark Family Secrets Exposed

Nothing stays hidden forever—and these dark family secrets are proof that when the truth comes out, it can range from devastating to utterly chilling.
April 8, 2020 Samantha Henman

Featured Article

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.

Madame de Pompadour Facts

Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress

Madame de Pompadour was the alluring chief mistress of King Louis XV, but few people know her dark history—or the chilling secret shared by her and Louis.
December 7, 2018 Kyle Climans

More from Factinate

Featured Article

I tried to get my ex-wife served with divorce papers. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life.

These People Got Genius Revenges

When someone really pushes our buttons, we'd like to think that we'd hold our head high and turn the other cheek, but revenge is so, so sweet.
April 22, 2020 Scott Mazza

Featured Article

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history.

Catherine of Aragon Facts

Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife

Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but very few people know her even darker history.
June 7, 2018 Christine Tran



Dear reader,


Want to tell us to write facts on a topic? We’re always looking for your input! Please reach out to us to let us know what you’re interested in reading. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your time!


Do you question the accuracy of a fact you just read? At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. Our credibility is the turbo-charged engine of our success. We want our readers to trust us. Our editors are instructed to fact check thoroughly, including finding at least three references for each fact. However, despite our best efforts, we sometimes miss the mark. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Thanks for your help!


Warmest regards,



The Factinate team




Want to learn something new every day?

Join thousands of others and start your morning with our Fact Of The Day newsletter.

Thank you!

Error, please try again.