Things are coloured because we have visual systems. In other words, without us – or some similar sentient being – there would be no colour.

“By convention there is sweetness, by convention bitterness, by convention color, in reality only atoms and the void.”, Democritus, 460-370 BCE.

If we eliminated all living beings from the universe there would be no colour, no sound, no smell. All that would remain would be physical stimuli.

I really believe this. But it doesn’t mean that colour doesn’t exist. It’s like saying that just because they are things that we experience – things that our brains produce – then pain and love don’t exist. Of course pain and love exist. But they don’t exist in the absence of sentient beings and the same can be said for colour. And all of our perceptions of course.

But this video – below – is not about that. It is about how everyday objects such as paints, plastics, textiles, prints etc. interact with light. Why do some objects absorb short wavelengths and others absorb long wavelengths.

For most objects it is all about dyes and pigments. Please watch the video below to hear more about this. And don’t forget to click like if it was worth your time.