OUR WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR
By Olivene Godfrey
Most of us seem to have a sense of well-being in spring and summer months. This is probably due largely to the warmer weather.
But, I think perhaps the abundance of color in our world plays a big role in creating this state of euphoria. Color surrounds us everywhere, especially in the spring and summer in our part of the country. We see it in the sky, in the sea, in rocks and in all plants and animals. And here in northwest Georgia our world seems to be predominantly blue, green and red (in Georgia clay).
Color adds beauty to our clothing and food. And it makes our homes, schools and offices attractive. We admire color in paintings, photographs, books, magazines and movies and televisions.
We use the names of colors in our speech. We "see” red when we lose our temper. Or, we turn "green with envy" at someone else's luck. If we are feeling sad, we may say we are feeling blue. A coward is known as "yellow" and a special day is called a "red letter" day.
Everywhere we look we see color. And wouldn't it be dull without it? We see green grass, a red apple, and a beach as yellow-brown.
We take colors for granted. We can't even prove they exist. I have read that many animals can't see color. We all know that our eyes see color when light strikes them.
To understand color, one has to know that sunlight is made of many colors. A rainbow shows the colors in sunlight. Tiny drops of water in the air cause a rainbow by breaking up sunlight into the colors it is made of. Most artificial light is much like sunlight.
Scientists know that these colors of the rainbow can be combined again to form white light. White is a mixture of all the colors in the rainbow. Black is no color at all. The letters on this page are black because the black ink absorbs all the colors that strike it. The letters wouldn't show if the paper around them didn't reflect light to our eyes. Make a disk of the rainbow colors. Whirl it around very fast so the separate colors don't show. The eye puts them all together and the disk looks white.
An artist can paint a sunset by starting with only three colors, red, yellow and blue. He or she can mix these colors together to make other colors. My son, who is interested in such things, long ago tried to explain "color in light" to me. He talked about how light travels in waves, just like radio signals and X-rays do. And scientists can measure the length of these waves. But, it’s all Greek to me.
By Olivene Godfrey
Most of us seem to have a sense of well-being in spring and summer months. This is probably due largely to the warmer weather.
But, I think perhaps the abundance of color in our world plays a big role in creating this state of euphoria. Color surrounds us everywhere, especially in the spring and summer in our part of the country. We see it in the sky, in the sea, in rocks and in all plants and animals. And here in northwest Georgia our world seems to be predominantly blue, green and red (in Georgia clay).
Color adds beauty to our clothing and food. And it makes our homes, schools and offices attractive. We admire color in paintings, photographs, books, magazines and movies and televisions.
We use the names of colors in our speech. We "see” red when we lose our temper. Or, we turn "green with envy" at someone else's luck. If we are feeling sad, we may say we are feeling blue. A coward is known as "yellow" and a special day is called a "red letter" day.
Everywhere we look we see color. And wouldn't it be dull without it? We see green grass, a red apple, and a beach as yellow-brown.
We take colors for granted. We can't even prove they exist. I have read that many animals can't see color. We all know that our eyes see color when light strikes them.
To understand color, one has to know that sunlight is made of many colors. A rainbow shows the colors in sunlight. Tiny drops of water in the air cause a rainbow by breaking up sunlight into the colors it is made of. Most artificial light is much like sunlight.
Scientists know that these colors of the rainbow can be combined again to form white light. White is a mixture of all the colors in the rainbow. Black is no color at all. The letters on this page are black because the black ink absorbs all the colors that strike it. The letters wouldn't show if the paper around them didn't reflect light to our eyes. Make a disk of the rainbow colors. Whirl it around very fast so the separate colors don't show. The eye puts them all together and the disk looks white.
An artist can paint a sunset by starting with only three colors, red, yellow and blue. He or she can mix these colors together to make other colors. My son, who is interested in such things, long ago tried to explain "color in light" to me. He talked about how light travels in waves, just like radio signals and X-rays do. And scientists can measure the length of these waves. But, it’s all Greek to me.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home