# question about colors

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-colors/457783>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 25, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-colors/457783 "2008-07-25T21:43:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SystematicChaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@SystematicChaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SystematicChaos)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-colors/457783/1 "2008-07-25T21:43:58Z")

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My friends and I have be quarreling about which of these is correct:

BLACK is the absence of color

WHITE is the absence of color

BLACK is the product of all colors

WHITE produces all colors.

I think what the difference is whether you are talking about light or just artist colors…any idea how to resolve this. I know this is probably easy for you but I need a surefire answer to shut them all up.

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**Author:** ![SystematicChaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@SystematicChaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SystematicChaos)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-colors/457783/2 "2008-07-25T21:45:37Z")

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i realized i shoulda put this in GD so i will…closed