Question about light

reply to post by BlueTriangle


That's what I said

On the topic of light and colors....I fun piece of trivia...

Question:
If you have a pure white shirt it is already reflect all the visible colors of light, so how can you make it whiter and brighter?


Answer:
Using the process you described of light making heat and heat making light, you take non-visible colors and let them shine on atoms that take in that light heat up and output it as different type of light, Fluorescents. The clothing detergent companies found this out some time ago. Using Florescent materials in soaps cause non-visible light (mainly UV) to be converted to visible white light make shirts appear brighter and whiter.

[edit on 7-11-2007 by ebe51]

Originally posted by drunknmunky
If colour (or color as you guys call it) can only be seen because of light, why do we see colour on our computer screens?

How would you make a certain letter/number/button have a different surface that absorbs and reflects light in a different way to give off different colours

Sorry if its a bit of a dumb question

Well, there is a big difference between an object like a T shirt that reflects light, and an object like a pixel that emits light.

You see the pixel in a specific color because it is emitting light in a particular frequency.

A t-shirts color all depends on the type of light it is exposed too. Try a black light and see if the previously white T shirt still looks white.

[edit on 7-11-2007 by Sparky63]