The Colors of The Objects Depend On The Color of The Light That Illuminates Them

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The colors of the objects

depend on the color of the
light that illuminates them.
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Color is in the eye of the

beholder and is provoked by
the frequencies of light
emitted or reflected by
things. We see red in a rose
when light of certain
frequencies reaches our
eyes. Many organisms,
including people with
defective color vision, see no
red in a rose.
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28.1 The Color Spectrum
By passing a narrow beam of sunlight through a

triangular-shaped glass prism, Newton showed that
sunlight is composed of a mixture of all the colors
of the rainbow.
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Isaac Newton was the first to make a
systematic study of color.
Passing sunlight through a glass
prism, Newton showed that sunlight is
composed of a mixture of all the colors
of the rainbow.
Newton called this spread of colors a
spectrum, and noted that the colors
were formed in the order red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, and violet.
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Sunlight is an example of what is called white light. White
light is a combination of all the colors.
Under white light, white objects appear white and colored
objects appear in their individual colors.
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Newton showed that the colors in the spectrum were a
property not of the prism but of white light itself.
He recombined the colors with a second prism to produce
white light again.
In other words, all the colors, one atop the other, combine to
produce white light.
White is not a color but a combination of all colors.
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When sunlight passes through a prism, it separates into a
spectrum of all the colors of the rainbow.
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Black is similarly not a color, but is the
absence of light. Objects appear black
when they absorb light of all visible
frequencies.
Even a polished surface may look black
under some conditions.
Highly polished razor blades stacked
together and viewed end on appear black.
Light that gets between the closely
spaced edges of the blades gets trapped
and is absorbed after being reflected
many times.
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Black objects that you can see do not absorb all light that falls
on them, for there is always some reflection at the surface.
If not, you wouldn’t be able to see them.
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How did Isaac Newton show that

sunlight is composed of a mixture of all
colors of the rainbow?
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28.2 Color by Reflection
The color of an opaque object is the color of

the light it reflects.
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The colors of most objects around you are due to
the way the objects reflect light.
The color of an opaque object is the color of the
light it reflects.
Light reflects from objects similar to the way
sound “reflects” from a tuning fork when another
sets it into vibration.
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We can think of atoms and molecules as three-
dimensional tuning forks.
Electrons behave as tiny oscillators in orbits
around the nuclei.
Electrons can be forced temporarily into larger
orbits by the vibrations of electromagnetic waves.
Like tuning forks, once excited to more vigorous
motion, electrons send out their own energy
waves in all directions.
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Differences Among Materials
Different materials have different natural frequencies for
absorbing and emitting radiation.
At the resonant frequencies where the amplitudes of oscillation
are large, light is absorbed.
At frequencies below and above the resonant frequencies, light
is reemitted.
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If the material is transparent, the reemitted light passes
through it.
If the material is opaque, the light passes back into the
medium from which it came. This is reflection.
Most materials absorb light of some frequencies and
reflect the rest.
If a material absorbs light of most visible frequencies and
reflects red, for example, the material appears red.
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a. This square reflects all the colors illuminating it. In sunlight, it is white.
When illuminated with blue light, it is blue.
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a. This square reflects all the colors illuminating it. In sunlight, it is white.
When illuminated with blue light, it is blue.
b. This square absorbs all the colors illuminating it. In sunlight it is
warmer than the white square.
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When white light falls on a flower, light of some
frequencies is absorbed by the cells in the flower and
some light is reflected.
Cells that contain chlorophyll absorb light of most
frequencies and reflect the green part, so they
appear green.
The petals of a red rose, on the other hand, reflect
primarily red light, with a lesser amount of blue.
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Petals of most yellow flowers, such as daffodils, reflect red
and green as well as yellow.
Yellow daffodils reflect light of a broad band of frequencies.
The reflected colors of most objects are not pure single-
frequency colors, but a spread of frequencies.
So something yellow, for example, may simply be a mixture of
colors without blue and violet—or it can be red and
green together.
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Light Sources
The color of an object depends on the kind of light
used.
• A candle flame is deficient in higher
frequencies; it emits a yellowish light. Things
look yellowish in candlelight.
• An incandescent lamp emits light of all the
visible frequencies, but is richer toward the
lower frequencies, enhancing the reds.
• A fluorescent lamp is richer in the higher
frequencies, so blues are enhanced when
illuminated with fluorescent lamps.
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think!
When red light shines on a red rose, why do the leaves
become warmer than the petals?
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think!
When red light shines on a red rose, why do the leaves
become warmer than the petals?
Answer:
The leaves absorb rather than reflect red light, so the leaves
become warmer.
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think!
When green light shines on a red rose, why do the petals
look black?
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think!
When green light shines on a red rose, why do the petals
look black?
Answer:
The petals absorb rather than reflect the green light. So, the
rose appears to have no color at all—black.
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What determines the color of an

opaque object?
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28.3 Color by Transmission
The color of a transparent object is the color

of the light it transmits.
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A red piece of glass appears red because it absorbs all the
colors that compose white light, except red, which it transmits.
A blue piece of glass appears blue because it transmits
primarily blue and absorbs the other colors that illuminate it.
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Blue glass transmits only energy of the frequency of blue
light; energy of the other frequencies is absorbed and
warms the glass.
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The material in the glass that selectively absorbs
colored light is known as a pigment.
Electrons in the pigment atoms selectively absorb light
of certain frequencies in the illuminating light.
Other frequencies are reemitted from atom to atom in
the glass.
Ordinary window glass is colorless because it transmits
light of all visible frequencies equally well.
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What determines the color of a

transparent object?
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28.4 Sunlight
Yellow-green light is the brightest part of sunlight.

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28.4 Sunlight
White light from the sun is a composite of all the
visible frequencies. The brightness of solar
frequencies is uneven.
The lowest frequencies of sunlight, in the red region,
are not as bright as those in the middle-range yellow
and green region.
Humans evolved in the presence of sunlight and we
are most sensitive to yellow-green.
The blue portion of sunlight is not as bright, and the
violet portion is even less bright.
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28.4 Sunlight
The radiation curve of sunlight is a graph of
brightness versus frequency. Sunlight is brightest in
the yellow-green region.
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28.4 Sunlight
Which visible frequencies make up the

brightest part of sunlight?
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28.5 Mixing Colored Light
You can make almost any color at all by overlapping

red, green, and blue light and adjusting the
brightness of each color of light.
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Light of all the visible frequencies mixed together produces
white.
• White also results from the combination of only red,
green, and blue light.
• Red and green light alone overlap to form yellow.
• Red and blue light alone produce the bluish-red color
called magenta.
• Green and blue light alone produce the greenish-blue
color called cyan.
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When red light, green light, and blue light of equal
brightness are projected on a white screen, the overlapping
areas appear different colors.
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The frequencies of white light can be divided into three
regions:
• the lower-frequency red end
• the middle-frequency green part
• the higher-frequency blue end
Low and middle frequencies combine to form yellow to the
human eye. The middle and high frequencies appear
greenish blue (cyan). The low and high frequencies appear
bluish red (magenta).
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The low-frequency, middle-frequency, and high-frequency
parts of white light appear red, green, and blue.
To the human eye, red + green = yellow;
red + blue = magenta; green + blue = cyan.
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This amazing phenomenon is due to the way the human
eye works.
The three colors do not have to be red, green, and blue,
although those three produce the highest number of
different colors.
For this reason, red, green, and blue are called the
additive primary colors.
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Color television is based on the ability of the human eye to see
combinations of three colors as a variety of different colors.
The picture is made up of tiny spots, each less than a
millimeter across.
When the screen is lit, some of the spots are red, some green,
and some blue.
At a distance the mixtures of these colors provide a complete
range of colors, plus white.
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think!
What color does red light plus blue light make?
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think!
What color does red light plus blue light make?
Answer:
Magenta
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Which three visible frequencies combine

to form almost any color?
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28.6 Complementary Colors
Every color has some complementary color that

when added to it will produce white.
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When two of the three additive primary colors are combined:
• red + green = yellow
• red + blue = magenta
• blue + green = cyan
When we add in the third color, we get white:

• yellow + blue = white
• magenta + green = white
• cyan + red = white
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When two colors are added together to produce white, they are
called complementary colors.
Yellow and blue are complementary because yellow is the
combination of red and green.
Red, green, and blue light together appear white.
By similar reasoning we see that magenta and green are
complementary colors, as are cyan and red.
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Six blocks and their shadows appear as different colors
depending on the color of light that illuminates them.
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Begin with white light and subtract some color from it.
The resulting color appears to be the complement of the
one subtracted.
Some of the light incident upon an object is absorbed.
The part that is absorbed is in effect subtracted from the
incident light.
For example, if white light falls on a pigment that
absorbs red light, the light reflected appears cyan.
Subtract a color from white light and you have the
complementary color.
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When white light
passes through all
three transparencies,
light of all frequencies
is blocked (subtracted)
and we have black.
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think!
What color does white light minus yellow light appear?
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think!
What color does white light minus yellow light appear?
Answer:
Blue
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think!
What color does white light minus green light appear?
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think!
What color does white light minus green light appear?
Answer:
Magenta
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What happens when you combine any color

with its complementary color?
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28.7 Mixing Colored Pigments
When paints or dyes are mixed, the mixture absorbs

all the frequencies each paint or dye absorbs.
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Red and green paint do not combine to form yellow as
red and green light do.
The mixing of paints and dyes is an entirely different
process from the mixing of colored light.
Paints and dyes contain particles of pigment that
produce colors by absorbing light of certain frequencies
and reflecting others.
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When paints or dyes are mixed, the mixture absorbs all the
frequencies each paint or dye absorbs.
Blue paint, for example, reflects mostly blue light, but also
violet and green; it absorbs red, orange, and yellow light.
Yellow paint reflects mostly yellow light, but also red, orange,
and green; it absorbs blue and violet light.
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When blue and yellow paints are mixed, then between them
they absorb all the colors except green.
This process is called color mixing by subtraction.
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Mixing colored light is called color mixing by addition.
When you cast lights on a stage, you use the rules of color
addition, but when you mix paint, you use the rules of
color subtraction.
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The three colors most useful in color mixing by subtraction
are:
• magenta (bluish red)
• yellow
• cyan (greenish blue)
Magenta, yellow, and cyan are the subtractive primary
colors, used in printing illustrations in full color.
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Color printing is done on a press that prints each page
with four differently colored inks (magenta, yellow, cyan,
and black).
• Each color of ink comes from a different plate, which
transfers the ink to the paper.
• The ink deposits are regulated on different parts of
the plate by tiny dots.
• The overlapping dots of three colors plus black give
the appearance of many colors.
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Only four colors of ink are used to print color illustrations
and photographs—magenta, yellow, cyan, and black.
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Which visible frequencies are absorbed by a

mixture of paints or dyes?
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28.8 Why the Sky Is Blue
The sky is blue because its component particles

scatter high-frequency light.
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Scattering is a process in which
sound or light is absorbed and
reemitted in all directions.
Light is scattered by molecules
and larger specks of matter that
are far apart from one another in
the atmosphere.
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A beam of light falls on an
atom and causes the electrons
in the atom to move
temporarily in larger orbits.
The more vigorously
oscillating electrons reemit
light in various directions.
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The Sky
Atoms and molecules reemit light waves. Very tiny particles do
the same.
The nitrogen and oxygen molecules and the tiny particles that
make up the atmosphere are like tiny bells that “ring” with high
frequencies when energized by sunlight.
Like the sound from bells, the light is sent in all directions.
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Most ultraviolet light is absorbed by a layer of ozone gas
in the upper atmosphere. The rest is scattered by
atmospheric particles and molecules.
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Of the visible frequencies, violet light is scattered the
most, followed by blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, in
that order.
• Violet light is scattered more than blue but our eyes
are not very sensitive to violet light.
• Our eyes are more sensitive to blue, so we see a
blue sky.
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The blue of the sky varies under different conditions.
Where there are a lot of particles larger than oxygen
and nitrogen molecules, the lower frequencies of light
are scattered more.
This makes the sky less blue, and it takes on a whitish
appearance.
After a heavy rainstorm, when the particles have been
washed away, the sky becomes a deeper blue.
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The higher that one goes into the atmosphere, the
fewer molecules there are in the air to scatter light.
The sky appears darker.
When there are no molecules, as on the moon, for
example, the “sky” is black.
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The Clouds
Water droplets in a variety of sizes
—some of them microscopic—
make up clouds.
The different-size droplets result in
a variety of frequencies for
scattered light: low frequencies
from larger droplets and high
frequencies from tinier droplets of
water molecules.
The overall result is a white cloud.
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Why is the sky blue?

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28.9 Why Sunsets Are Red
By the time a beam of light gets to the ground at

sunset, all of the high-frequency light has already
been scattered. Only the lower frequencies remain,
resulting in a red sunset.
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The lower frequencies of light are scattered the least
by nitrogen and oxygen molecules.
Red, orange, and yellow light are transmitted through
the atmosphere more readily than violet and blue.
Red light, which is scattered the least, passes through
more atmosphere without interacting than light of any
other color.
At dawn and at sunset, sunlight reaches us through a
longer path through the atmosphere than at noon.
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At noon sunlight travels through the least amount
of atmosphere, so a relatively small amount of light
is scattered.
As the sun is lower in the sky, the path through the
atmosphere is longer, and more blue is scattered
from the sunlight.
Less and less blue remains in the sunlight that
reaches Earth.
The sun appears progressively redder, going from
yellow to orange, and finally, red.
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By the time a beam of sunlight gets to the ground
at sunset, only the lower frequencies survive,
producing a red sunset.
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The colors of the sun and sky are consistent
with our rules for color mixing.
• When blue is subtracted, the
complementary color that is left is yellow.
• The subtraction of violet leaves orange.
• When green is subtracted, magenta is
left.
The relative amounts of scattering depend on
atmospheric conditions, changing from day to
day for a variety of sunsets.
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The sunset sky is red because of the absence of
high-frequency light.
You see the scattered blue when the background
is dark, but not when the background is bright
because the scattered blue is faint.
When you look from Earth’s surface at the
atmosphere against the darkness of space, the
atmosphere is sky blue.
When astronauts look down through the same
atmosphere to the bright surface of Earth, they do
not see the same blueness.
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think!
If molecules in the sky scattered low-frequency light more
than high-frequency light, how would the colors of the sky
and sunsets appear?
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think!
If molecules in the sky scattered low-frequency light more
than high-frequency light, how would the colors of the sky
and sunsets appear?
Answer:
If low frequencies were scattered more, red light would be
scattered out of the sunlight on its long path through the
atmosphere at sunset, and the sunlight to reach your eye
would be predominantly blue and violet.
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think!
Distant dark mountains are bluish in color.
What is the source of this blueness? (Hint:
What is between you and the mountains you
see?)
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think!
Distant dark mountains are bluish in color.
What is the source of this blueness? (Hint:
What is between you and the mountains you
see?)
Answer:
If you look at distant dark mountains, very little
light from them reaches you, and the blueness
of the atmosphere between you and the
mountains predominates. The blueness is of
the low-altitude “sky” between you
and the mountains.
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Why are sunsets red?

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28.10 Why Water Is Greenish Blue
Water is greenish blue because water molecules

absorb red.
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We often see a beautiful deep blue when we look
at the surface of a lake or the ocean.
That is not the color of water. It is the reflected
color of the sky.
The color of water itself, as you can see by looking
at a piece of white material under water, is a pale
greenish blue.
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Ocean water is cyan because it absorbs red. The froth in
the waves is white because its droplets of many sizes
scatter many colors.
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Water is transparent to nearly all the visible
frequencies of light.
Water molecules absorb infrared waves because
they resonate to the frequencies of infrared.
The energy of the infrared waves is transformed
into kinetic energy of the water molecules.
Infrared is a strong component of the sunlight that
warms water.
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Water molecules resonate somewhat to the visible-red
frequencies. This causes a gradual absorption of red
light by water.
A 15-m layer of water reduces red light to a quarter of
its initial brightness. There is very little red light in the
sunlight that penetrates below 30 m of water.
The complementary color of red is cyan—a greenish-
blue color. In seawater, everything at these depths
looks greenish blue.
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The sky is blue because blue from sunlight is reemitted
in all directions by molecules in the atmosphere.
Water is greenish blue because water molecules
absorb red.
The colors of things depend on what colors are
reflected by molecules, and also by what colors are
absorbed by molecules.
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think!
Distant snow-covered mountains reflect a lot of light and are
bright. But they sometimes look yellowish, depending on
how far away they are. Why are they yellow? (Hint: What
happens to the reflected white light as it travels from the
mountain to you?)
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think!
Distant snow-covered mountains reflect a lot of light and are
bright. But they sometimes look yellowish, depending on
how far away they are. Why are they yellow? (Hint: What
happens to the reflected white light as it travels from the
mountain to you?)
Answer:
Distant snow-covered mountains often appear a pale yellow
because the blue in the white light from the snowy
mountains is scattered on its way to you. The
complementary color left is yellow.
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Why is water greenish blue?

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28.11 The Atomic Color Code—Atomic Spectra
After an excited atom emits light, it returns to its

normal state.
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Every element has its own characteristic color when it
emits light.
The color is a blend of various frequencies of light.
Light of each frequency is emitted when the electrons
change energy states.
Electrons have well-defined energy levels—lower
energy near the atomic nucleus and higher energy
farther from the nucleus.
When an atom absorbs external energy, one or more of
its electrons is boosted to a higher energy level.
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The energized atom is in an excited state. An excited
state is a state with greater energy than the atom’s
lowest energy state.
The excited state is only momentary, for the electron is
quickly drawn back to its original or a lower level.
When this electron transition occurs, the atom emits a
pulse of light—a photon.
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Light is emitted by excited atoms.
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a. The different electron orbits in an atom are like steps in energy levels.
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b. When an electron is raised to a higher level, the atom is excited.
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b. When an electron is raised to a higher level, the atom is excited.
c. When the electron returns to its original level, it releases energy in the
form of light.
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Relating Frequency and Energy
The frequency of the emitted photon, or its color, is directly
proportional to the energy transition of the electron.
f~E
A photon carries an amount of energy that corresponds to its
frequency. Red light from neon gas, for example, carries a
certain amount of energy. A photon of twice the frequency has
twice as much energy and is found in the ultraviolet part of the
spectrum.
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When many atoms in a material are excited, many
photons with many different frequencies are emitted.
They correspond to electron transitions between
different levels.
Measuring the frequencies of light in a spectrum is also
measuring the relative energy levels in the atom
emitting that light.
The frequencies, or colors, of light emitted by elements
are the “fingerprints” of the elements.
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Analyzing Light
The light from glowing elements can be analyzed with
an instrument called a spectroscope.
A spectroscope displays the spectra of the light from
hot gases and other light sources. (Spectra is the
plural of spectrum.)
The spectra of light sources are viewed through a
magnifying eyepiece.
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A fairly pure spectrum is produced by passing white
light through a thin slit, two lenses, and a prism.
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A spectroscope separates light into its constituent
frequencies. Light illuminates the thin slit at the left, and
then it is focused by lenses onto either a diffraction grating
(shown) or a prism on the rotating table in the middle.
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When light from a glowing element is analyzed through
a spectroscope, the colors are the composite of a
variety of different frequencies of light.
The spectrum of an element appears not as a
continuous band of color but as a series of lines.
Each line corresponds to a distinct frequency of light in
a line spectrum.
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An incandescent bulb has a continuous spectrum.
Three elements: hydrogen, sodium, and mercury have
different line spectra.
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Much of the information that physicists have about atomic
structure is from the study of atomic spectra.
The atomic composition of common materials, the sun, and
distant galaxies is revealed in the spectra of these sources.
The element helium, the second most common element in the
universe, was discovered through its “fingerprint” in sunlight.
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What happens to an excited atom after

it emits light?
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Assessment Questions
1. Black is
a. a combination of all the colors of the spectrum.
b. a combination of two or more appropriate colors.
c. light when a prism is held upside down.
d. the absence of light.
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1. Black is
a. a combination of all the colors of the spectrum.
b. a combination of two or more appropriate colors.
c. light when a prism is held upside down.
d. the absence of light.
Answer: D
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2. To say that rose petals are red is to say that they
a. absorb red.
b. reflect red.
c. emit red.
d. transmit red.
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2. To say that rose petals are red is to say that they
a. absorb red.
b. reflect red.
c. emit red.
d. transmit red.
Answer: B
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3. The color light that gets through a piece of transparent blue glass is
a. blue.
b. yellow, the opposite color of blue.
c. actually green.
d. red minus magenta.
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3. The color light that gets through a piece of transparent blue glass is
a. blue.
b. yellow, the opposite color of blue.
c. actually green.
d. red minus magenta.
Answer: A
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4. The solar radiation curve is
a. the path the sun takes at nighttime.
b. a plot of amplitude versus frequency for sunlight.
c. a plot of brightness versus frequency of sunlight.
d. a plot of wavelength versus frequency of sunlight.
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4. The solar radiation curve is
a. the path the sun takes at nighttime.
b. a plot of amplitude versus frequency for sunlight.
c. a plot of brightness versus frequency of sunlight.
d. a plot of wavelength versus frequency of sunlight.
Answer: C
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5. When red and blue light are overlapped, the color produced is
a. magenta.
b. yellow.
c. cyan.
d. white.
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5. When red and blue light are overlapped, the color produced is
a. magenta.
b. yellow.
c. cyan.
d. white.
Answer: A
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6. The complementary color of blue is
a. magenta.
b. yellow.
c. cyan.
d. white.
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6. The complementary color of blue is
a. magenta.
b. yellow.
c. cyan.
d. white.
Answer: B
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7. For mixing pigments or dyes, the primary colors are magenta,
cyan, and
a. red.
b. green.
c. yellow.
d. blue.
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7. For mixing pigments or dyes, the primary colors are magenta,
cyan, and
a. red.
b. green.
c. yellow.
d. blue.
Answer: C
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8. The blueness of the daytime sky is due mostly to light
a. absorption.
b. transmission.
c. reflection.
d. scattering.
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8. The blueness of the daytime sky is due mostly to light
a. absorption.
b. transmission.
c. reflection.
d. scattering.
Answer: D
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9. The redness of a sunrise or sunset is due mostly to light that has
not been
a. absorbed.
b. transmitted.
c. scattered.
d. polarized.
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9. The redness of a sunrise or sunset is due mostly to light that has
not been
a. absorbed.
b. transmitted.
c. scattered.
d. polarized.
Answer: C
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10. The greenish blue of ocean water is due mostly to the absorption of
a. infrared light.
b. ultraviolet light.
c. polarized light.
d. scattered light.
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10. The greenish blue of ocean water is due mostly to the absorption of
a. infrared light.
b. ultraviolet light.
c. polarized light.
d. scattered light.
Answer: A
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11. The frequency of an emitted photon is related to its
a. amplitude.
b. polarization.
c. momentum.
d. energy.
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11. The frequency of an emitted photon is related to its
a. amplitude.
b. polarization.
c. momentum.
d. energy.
Answer: D

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28 Color

The colors of the objects

Color is in the eye of the

28.1 The Color Spectrum

By passing a narrow beam of sunlight through a

28.1 The Color Spectrum

28.1 The Color Spectrum

28.1 The Color Spectrum

28.1 The Color Spectrum

28.1 The Color Spectrum

28.1 The Color Spectrum

28.1 The Color Spectrum

How did Isaac Newton show that

28.2 Color by Reflection

The color of an opaque object is the color of

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

28.2 Color by Reflection

What determines the color of an

28.3 Color by Transmission

The color of a transparent object is the color

28.3 Color by Transmission

28.3 Color by Transmission

28.3 Color by Transmission

28.3 Color by Transmission

What determines the color of a

Yellow-green light is the brightest part of sunlight.

Which visible frequencies make up the

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

You can make almost any color at all by overlapping

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

28.5 Mixing Colored Light

Which three visible frequencies combine

28.6 Complementary Colors

Every color has some complementary color that

28.6 Complementary Colors

When we add in the third color, we get white:

28.6 Complementary Colors

28.6 Complementary Colors

28.6 Complementary Colors