Poll: Is Invisible a Color?

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NeutralDrow

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Mar 23, 2009
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No. Color is a property of light. Something invisible doesn't interact with light at all.
 

GrimSheeper

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Jan 15, 2010
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Color does not exist as a thing. Color is the way the brain interprets wavelengths of light that are reflected or swallowed by an object. If something is invisible, it does either swallow all light or does not cause light to be reflected, therefore it cannot have color.
 

fletch_talon

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Nov 6, 2008
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Here, let me type the rest of my post in invisible and you tell me.

Not really, I don't want a low content post.
Not that this topic deserves much else.

Colour is experienced via sight. If it is 100% not visible then it has no colour.
Of course I'm not sure if anything is really invisible. Certainly there are things which we require mechanical/technological aid to see but then that means they aren't 100% invisible doesn't it.

If you are referring to something that is clear, then the answer is still no. If something is clear it just means you can see the colour of whatever is behind it, if it was a colour then the colour of the objects behind it would be altered accordingly.

Not the most scientific explanation (someone will likely go into the whole light spectrum deal) but whatever.
 

2xDouble

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Mar 15, 2010
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Yes it can. Two colors, in fact: infrared and ultraviolet, depending on which end of the light spectrum it ends up reflecting (sometimes both).

Just because something doesn't emit/reflect visible light doesn't mean it isn't emitting/reflecting any light.
 

LordZ

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Jan 16, 2010
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If you're a programmer, invisible certainly is a color. It's the color you pick to be transparent and hence invisible. No, it's not always the same color since it is whatever color the programmer chooses. However, a shade of white or black are popular choices.
 

docSpitfire

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Jun 13, 2011
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GrimSheeper said:
Color does not exist as a thing. Color is the way the brain interprets wavelengths of light that are reflected or swallowed by an object. If something is invisible, it does either swallow all light or does not cause light to be reflected, therefore it cannot have color.
Something that is clear (invisible) allows light to pass through until it reflects off something behind it. If it absorbed light it would be black.

Color refers to a frequency in the visible range and our brain's interpretation of that.
(x-ray and infrared aren't colors because they aren't in the visible range)
(clear/invisible aren't colors because that refers to a property which allows light to pass through it mostly unhindered and not a frequency)
 

Stammer

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Apr 16, 2008
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No, visibility is a completely different concept than colour altogether.

Colour is a reflection of a specific combination of wavelengths of light.

Visibility is how well you can see something.
 

Traun

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Jan 31, 2009
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No, invisibility is dependent on the opacity. A color can lack opacity at all and be as solid as a wall, it can have 50% opacity and be transparent, 70% and be like a tint or 100% and completely transparent, completely invisible.
 

Agayek

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Oct 23, 2008
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not-sid said:
Sound off in the poll and, if you feel like it, explain your choice
Well, it is part of the standard Hexadecimal color code (specifically as the alpha channel), so I will assume that it is.
 

Agayek

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Oct 23, 2008
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chaosyoshimage said:
Are black and white colors?
Yes, at least partially. White is actually every color of the spectrum combined.

Black can be debatable. I would include it as a color, but it's technically only the absence of light. What you perceive as black is actually a material/object that isn't reflecting any light. The human mind interprets those portions as black. You can make an argument that because of that, black isn't technically a real color.
 

Delta7

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Sep 26, 2011
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Warning: Incoming Physics

Colour is, as has been pointed out, how the eye perceives differences in the wavelength of light. Invisibility is when an object does not interact with light, neither absorbing, reflecting, refracting, nor emitting it. The vast majority of matter is like this (ie. Dark Matter). Thus it is fairly accurate to say that invisibility is a property of an object. It should be noted that an object that only interacts with light outside the visible spectrum (eg infrared, ultraviolet) would appear black, not invisible, and while black is defined as a lack of colour, anyone who tells me their black car is invisible is wrong. Unless they tell me this at night. Further, saying the UV, etc, light itself cannot be seen is also misleading, as this holds true for any light. You don't see random streams of red photons floating around, even though that would be quite cool... need to work that out, need to do tests...

TL,DR: No. Colour is light. Invisibility is the property of not interacting with light.
 

Agayek

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Oct 23, 2008
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Traun said:
No, invisibility is dependent on the opacity. A color can lack opacity at all and be as solid as a wall, it can have 50% opacity and be transparent, 70% and be like a tint or 100% and completely transparent, completely invisible.
I think you have some terms mixed up. 0% opacity means it is completely transparent, and thus invisible. The term opacity derives from the word "opaque", which essentially means impenetrable by light. If something is invisible or transparent, it literally means that all light passes through it unhindered.

Something with 100% opacity would not allow any light to pass through it, meaning it is not invisible.