New Mix

What Happens When You Look Through Two Colors at Once?

 

Materials

• clear plastic cup
• clear plastic bowl
• tap water
• yellow and blue food coloring

Try This

1. Make sure the plastic cup fits inside the plastic bowl.
2. Pour tap water into the bowl until it is about three-fourths full.
3. Mix in the yellow food coloring.
4. Pour water into the cup until it is half full.
5. Mix in the blue food coloring.
6. Place the cup of blue water in the bowl of yellow water. Look through the water in the bowl at the water in the cup. What color do you see? Test other colors by changing the color of the water.

What's Going On?

The water looked green. Light is made up of a series of colored bands, the spectrum, which can be seen when light is broken apart by a prism. All objects reflect and absorb these colors, so the color of an object is determined by the color, or colors, that it reflects. The blue water reflected blue light and the yellow water reflected yellow light. All the other colors were absorbed by the water. By placing the cup of blue water into the bowl of yellow water, you temporarily mixed the two colors. This mixture absorbed most colors of the spectrum and reflected green light, so the water looked green.