Is Clear a color?

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Chaotic42

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,350
1,526
126
I equate color with photons travelling at certain frequencies. I don't think clear fits that.
 
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HonkeyDonk

Diamond Member
Oct 14, 2001
4,020
0
0
Originally posted by: FFactory0x
I was talking to a girl on the phone and she said she was painting her toe mails the color clear. CLEAR IS NOT A COLOR
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you just made this thread b/c you want everyone to know that you were talking to a girl over the phone.
 
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Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,513
16
81
Clear does not necessarily mean the absence of colour.

Clear means that it is transparent. A blue cocktail glass is clear, but blue.

If something has no colour (like conventional glass), then it is colourless.
 
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Shockwave

Banned
Sep 16, 2000
9,059
0
0
"The answer to "Is clear a color?" depends on how one is defining color. People commonly refer to color with two different meanings: Light color and pigment color. The primary colors of light are red, green, and blue. These are the colors that can make all other colors, by adding them together. Red+green=yellow, red+blue=magenta, green+blue=cyan. If red, green, and blue light are all mixed, we get white light. If we take away all the light, we have black (dark).

The primary colors of pigments, on the other hand, are magenta, cyan, and yellow. (As children, most of us learned these as red, blue, and yellow, but this is not exactly right. However, red, blue, and yellow are close enough approximations when we mix poster paints.) The objects we see are all colored with pigments. The reason they appear a particular color is because that pigment is capable of absorbing some COLORS OF LIGHT and reflecting others. For example, a red shirt appears red because it absorbs all LIGHT COLORS except red. Red is reflected, so we see the shirt as red. So for OPAQUE objects, the color that is REFLECTED is the color that we see. The colors that are absorbed, we do not see. A white shirt, then, reflects all colors of light, while a black shirt absorbs all colors. (This is why we don't like to wear black on a hot summer day. Absorbed light is converted to heat.)

The situation changes slightly when we are dealing with transparent objects, such as colored (or clear) glass. Transparent objects absorb some wavelengths of light, while they TRANSMIT others. It is the transmitted colors that we see. For example, blue glass transmits BLUE LIGHT and absorbs the other colors.

So how does 'clear' fit in? For opaque objects, when all colors are reflected, we get white. For transparent objects, when all colors are transmitted, we get clear. So if one follows this line a reasoning, clear is the transparent equivalent of white. Clear is acually the transmission of all wavelengths--colors, that is--of light. So if you consider 'white' a color, then you ought to consider 'clear' a color.

(Many scientists, and others, will tell you that white is technically not a color, since it is the combination of all other colors. So we come back to semantics--it's all in how you define 'color.')

I'm fairly confident in this answer, but I wouldn't put my life on it in a hostage situation...."
 

Originally posted by: Shockwave
"The answer to "Is clear a color?" depends on how one is defining color. People commonly refer to color with two different meanings: Light color and pigment color. The primary colors of light are red, green, and blue. These are the colors that can make all other colors, by adding them together. Red+green=yellow, red+blue=magenta, green+blue=cyan. If red, green, and blue light are all mixed, we get white light. If we take away all the light, we have black (dark).

The primary colors of pigments, on the other hand, are magenta, cyan, and yellow. (As children, most of us learned these as red, blue, and yellow, but this is not exactly right. However, red, blue, and yellow are close enough approximations when we mix poster paints.) The objects we see are all colored with pigments. The reason they appear a particular color is because that pigment is capable of absorbing some COLORS OF LIGHT and reflecting others. For example, a red shirt appears red because it absorbs all LIGHT COLORS except red. Red is reflected, so we see the shirt as red. So for OPAQUE objects, the color that is REFLECTED is the color that we see. The colors that are absorbed, we do not see. A white shirt, then, reflects all colors of light, while a black shirt absorbs all colors. (This is why we don't like to wear black on a hot summer day. Absorbed light is converted to heat.)

The situation changes slightly when we are dealing with transparent objects, such as colored (or clear) glass. Transparent objects absorb some wavelengths of light, while they TRANSMIT others. It is the transmitted colors that we see. For example, blue glass transmits BLUE LIGHT and absorbs the other colors.

So how does 'clear' fit in? For opaque objects, when all colors are reflected, we get white. For transparent objects, when all colors are transmitted, we get clear. So if one follows this line a reasoning, clear is the transparent equivalent of white. Clear is acually the transmission of all wavelengths--colors, that is--of light. So if you consider 'white' a color, then you ought to consider 'clear' a color.

(Many scientists, and others, will tell you that white is technically not a color, since it is the combination of all other colors. So we come back to semantics--it's all in how you define 'color.')

I'm fairly confident in this answer, but I wouldn't put my life on it in a hostage situation...."
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Sounds just like everything i learned, nice job of explaining
 
B

badmouse

Platinum Member
Dec 3, 2003
2,862
2
0
Originally posted by: iloveme2
Originally posted by: badmouse
Everybody here who answered clear is not a color, with technical specifications, will never get a girlfriend :D .
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Clear is my new favorite color.


;)
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Now you're catching on . . .
 
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FFactory0x

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2001
6,991
0
0
so basically black is not a color. If black is because of all light being absorbed. IS black paint still black when it is in its light proof can where it is dark. Are we only seeing black because when we open it light gets to it
 
ThePresence

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
27,727
16
81
Originally posted by: FFactory0x
so basically black is not a color. If black is because of all light being absorbed. IS black paint still black when it is in its light proof can where it is dark. Are we only seeing black because when we open it light gets to it
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Well, the tree makes noise even if nobody can hear it!
 
edro

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
Maybe she was talking down to you... maybe she thought you wouldn't understand if she said she was painting her toenalils clear... so she added "color" to make it easier to understand...

genius.
 
G

gigapet

Lifer
Aug 9, 2001
10,005
0
76
Originally posted by: FFactory0x
I was talking to a girl on the phone and she said she was painting her toe mails the color clear. CLEAR IS NOT A COLOR
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perfect example of chick logic
 
dullard

dullard

Elite Member
May 21, 2001
25,761
4,283
126
There was some quote that was popular about 15 years ago. I forget where it was from - probably some movie. But it was basically "clear is my favorite color". Everyone was saying that and joking about it for a few weeks. Maybe this was a reference to that memory of her childhood...
 
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psydancerqt

Golden Member
Mar 31, 2003
1,110
0
0
factory, did you ask her what color she was painting her nails? or did she actually say, "i'm painting my nails the color clear"?
 
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Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,982
10
81
Originally posted by: EMPshockwave82
white and black are colors.. black is the color of all the light being absorbed.. white is the color that appears when all light is reflected


clear however is NOT a color... clear is the ABSENCE of color
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1 a : a phenomenon of light (as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects
White and black are colors, clear is not.
 
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FFactory0x

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2001
6,991
0
0
Originally posted by: psydancerqt
factory, did you ask her what color she was painting her nails? or did she actually say, "i'm painting my nails the color clear"?
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No she definitly said i wouldnt guess what color she w2as paingting her nails. I said green and she laughed and said clear. I then told her it wasnt a color and we rambled on about it for 30
 
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