The color mystery of a pair of gloves under different lights
A pair of gloves appear blue in blue light. The gloves appear red in yellow light. What color are the gloves?
Answer: blue
Explanation: The gloves likely have some shade of purple or magenta, as these colors reflect both blue and red light. The exact color could be determined by observing the gloves under white light.
Explanation: The color of an object depends on the wavelengths of light it absorbs and reflects. When an object appears a certain color, that indicates it is reflecting that color of light back to our eyes and absorbing all others. In this example, the gloves appear blue in blue light because they are reflecting blue light, and they appear red in yellow light indicating they are reflecting some part of red light as well. It suggests the gloves are likely some shade of purple or magenta, colors that reflect both red and blue light. However, to determine the exact color of the gloves, we would need to know how they appear under white light, which contains all colors of light.
What are the two colors the gloves appear in different lights?
The gloves appear blue in blue light and red in yellow light.