# What do white and black objects appear white or black.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712 "2003-07-20T06:54:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Homer\_J.Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a698b9/32.png) [@Homer\_J.Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J.Simpson)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712/1 "2003-07-20T06:54:42Z")

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My brother and I are having an argument. We agree that white light contains all colors. Since white object reflect all colors does this mean white objects contain all colors? Do black objects have no color? Why does an object appear black if mix up every color of paint and then paint it? Shouldn’t it reflect all colors and appear white. Do white objects contain all colors or do black objects contain all colors? Is white or black the absence of color?

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**Author:** ![Homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712/2 "2003-07-20T08:07:03Z")

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Theres not room enough for the both of us!

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**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712/3 "2003-07-20T08:15:08Z")

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Since paint reflects light, each individual color of paint must _absorb_ all colors except for the color we see. Therefore, when you mix different color paints to create black, that is because the colors reflected by one part of the mix are overridden by those colors being absorbed by the other parts of the mix.

So, white paint reflects all colors and black absorbs them all.

D

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**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712/4 "2003-07-20T09:26:27Z")

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[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=168463) is a thread which discusses the differences between _additive_ and _subtractive_ color, which will help explain things, **Mr. Simpson**.

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-white-and-black-objects-appear-white-or-black/189712/5 "2003-07-20T17:07:32Z")

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Simpson, Simpson…French, is it?

Sorry. I’ve just always wanted to use that.