Black on black on black on black

[Imhotep Evil]

True.

 

[El Zorro]

No, I'm sure they'd laugh at people going out of their way to misconstrue a scientific factoid.

Let me ask you this - is Infra Red a color? How about UV radiation or Gamma Rays?

In the world of printing, there's several colors of black, depending upon what kind of tonal balance or depth you're trying to achieve. On paper, blacks can be warm, cool and neutral. Blacks can be "rich" by way of ink overprints, and they can be "thin."

We can oberve black, we can make things black, it's a color.

I think Imhotep Evil explained it very well! Black is indeed the absence of radiation in the visible spectrum, while white is the combination of all visible colours. Look for example at a rainbow: do you see any black or white there? Nope: only Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. If you would put these 'true' colours on a disc, and let it spin at a high speed, you would see a white disc.

To answer your question Osnabrueck: infrared is not a colour, because it isn't visible for the human eye (longer wavelength than red, which is visible). Likewise, ultraviolet rays (shorter wavelength than violet) can't be seen by our eyes, so it isn't a true colour. Gamma rays have an even shorter wavelength than UV (more energy ==> more dangerous!), and find their origin in the radioactive decline of isotopes. They aren't visible, so they don't represent a colour.

The different shades of black are obtained by using black ink with all sorts of additives. Genuine black paint would be a mixture of chemicals that absorbs all the incoming rays and doesn't reflect any (visible?) rays, with the consequence that we see a 'black' object. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's the way I learned it in the courses physics...

 

[SDNR]

Oh dear ....

Good post El Zorro, but I really think Osna probably is already aware of these facts ...he does have an IQ higher than 10 afterall

 

[Imhotep Evil]

I think Imhotep Evil explained it very well! Black is indeed the absence of radiation in the visible spectrum, while white is the combination of all visible colours.

Thank you for a great post that backs up and completes greatly my explanation.

Now should we not get back to discuss about the Lambo ?!

 

[El Zorro]

Sorry if my post was a bit superfluous, I found it an interesting discussion so I decided to join it And to be honest: I also talk about the 'colour' black, but IE had a point that this term is scientifically wrong.

Oh yes, the Lambo is gorgeous

 

[Osnabrueck]

Alright, hopefully we can all agree on this: Black is a color that is unique, in that it absorbs all visible wavelengths of light.

Sorry El Zorro, my question about extraoptical colors was rhetorical. Of course, infrared is not a color to us, because we can't see it. However, some animals are adapted to see into the infrared spectrum, so to them, it's a very real color.

 

[Deutsch]

"Black" is a color. Get over it.

 

[Alx]

Freakin hot!!!

 

[Osnabrueck]

Freakin hot!!!

Amen!

 

[warot]

"Black" is a color. Get over it.

"Technically" it isn't (this is coming from an engineer). But for everyday Joe, it is.

Is that Darth Vaider's car? It looks cool but I wouldn't do that, too extreme. I'm a big fan of contrast on cars, haha.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Alright, hopefully we can all agree on this: Black is a color that is unique, in that it absorbs all visible wavelengths of light.

Sorry El Zorro, my question about extraoptical colors was rhetorical. Of course, infrared is not a color to us, because we can't see it. However, some animals are adapted to see into the infrared spectrum, so to them, it's a very real color.

Bats, and dolphins and so on see thru eco-location.
It's real all right, but it's not in colours.

There is this false idea here, that if the eye sees it and it's real, it's a colour.
That's just not true, the human eye can see
- colours;
- absence of it = black;
- white (light) = the combination of colours (of at least the 3 primordial colours);

If it absorbs all visible wavelengths of light, than it defies/opposes the very defignision of colour.

By comparison, imagine if I would say, that if a car goes from one point to another, it's necesarily an AWD. Well that's just not true. To accept in my head something else that just AWD, I have to drop my mind the preconcepted idea that a car that goes from point on to point B necesarily needs to be an AWD.

BTW, if you think that to see black=absence of colour, is to weird for you, think again, cause you can, and you did/do/will see things that are not there/do not exist.

 

[SDNR]

Lu, the next time you make a thread ......please make sure the vehicle is blue ...or red ...or yellow; anything but BLACK!! ....or white for that matter

 

[Centurion]

Lu, the next time you make a thread ......please make sure the vehicle is blue ...or red ...or yellow; anything but BLACK!! ....or white for that matter

On the other hand we have actually learned some stuff a black that we can use at a dinner table to correct others.

 

[Deutsch]

LOL ....well you did ask, Deutsch ...you should have known you would get a virtual thesis on the matter from Imhotep Evil

It was sarcasm. As I stated the definition of "Black" like many other words depends upon the context in which you are using a particular word. It seems to me like some just can't leave a keyboard until the world knows they're right and everyone else is wrong. I'm way over the discussion by now and so should everyone else be.

Roberto, sometimes you really do come across as an instigator/antagonist with your remarks.

 

[Osnabrueck]

Bats, and dolphins and so on see thru eco-location.
It's real all right, but it's not in colours.

Eco-location is a aural/spacial sense, not a visual sense. That has nothing do to with the extended range of spectral perception that some animals possess.

Imhotep, we're at an impasse, because you're just getting the natural behavior of light mixed up with the semantics of the word color.

 

[Imhotep Evil]

I'm going mad.
Scientificaly, it's not a colour. That's what every physics books will say (sic).
Due to popular misconception it is seen as a colour.
Will anyone lock this tread.
And BTW see is also a spacial perception.

 

[Deutsch]

I'm going mad.
Scientificaly, it's not a colour. That's what every physics books will say (sic).
Due to popular misconception it is seen as a colour.
Will anyone lock this tread.
And BTW see is also a spacial perception.

I'm sorry, but I think the only person that really cares about all this is you. Let's get back to the discussion on black Lambo's!!! Any more pics of that particular car???

 

[Centurion]

I'm going mad.
Scientificaly, it's not a colour. That's what every physics books will say (sic).
Due to popular misconception it is seen as a colour.
Will anyone lock this tread.
And BTW see is also a spacial perception.

Black is and adjective just like red, blue, green and yellow and falls into the same category which is colour.

 

[warot]

Black is and adjective just like red, blue, green and yellow and falls into the same category which is colour.

This is exactly the same problem that people have with mass vs weight. When someone says they weigh 80kg, that statement is false. Because technically, they have to say that their mass is 80kg, while they weight 80kg * 9.81 Kg/s^2.

Although that statement is technically wrong, it is still accepted. Same thing with black. Technically it's not a color, but it is accepted.

Deutsch, not trying to be rude, but take it easy, we are just having a discussion. And Roberto is being humorous about it

 

[Osnabrueck]

And BTW [sight] is also a spacial perception.

Yes and no. Our spacial perception is aided by all of our senses, in addition to sight. Sight is a component of spacial perception, but not a requisite.

I don't know how eco-location got into this. I was originally talking about animals that can see colors outside of our visible spectrum.

Imhotep, a scientific right doesn't make for a semantic wrong. We all understand that black is the absense of light, but we also understand that black behaves just like any other color in the natural world - we have black pens, black paint, black lungs... the word "color" perfectly describes what black is, and what it does - that's why it's a color.

It doesn't matter that people say things like "go back in time" or "the deep blue sea," even though those are scientific misnomers. They make sense in our world of Western metaphor, so we use them.

By the way - if you feel inclined to get super-technical, we can start talking about additive vs subtractive color models - infra-black and uv-black - and kinds of ridiculous minutia that have nothing to do with a Lamborghini. None of that really matters though.

(By the way, this thread is awesome!)