What makes red

But notice that we can only see a tiny portion of the entire spectrum of light --only those wavelengths between about and nanometers. Keep in mind that there are wavelengths of light that are longer than nanometers and shorter than nanometers Animals, however, can: bees, snakes, and birds can all see colors outside of our visible light range.

But back to our visible light spectrum. Check out the diagram above one more time. The distance from crest to crest is just a little thicker than a soap bubble membrane. So, then, what colors make red?

If an object is red, that means it absorbs all wavelengths of light except those that fall around nanometers in length. One way to make red is by mixing magenta and yellow together. Interestingly enough, when you mix together some objects that reflect light differently, their ability to reflect light gets mixed together as well.

This happens in two different ways: additive mixing and subtractive mixing. Additive mixing happens when wavelengths of light combine with one another.

This is how your television works! We already know that the red wavelength of light is nm or so. But if two or more other wavelengths combine to equal nm, they can appear red, too. Subtractive mixing happens when wavelengths are removed from the visible light spectrum through the use of physical mediums, such as paints or dyes.

This process is called subtractive color because the colored pigments create layers that absorb some wavelengths and reflect others. So how do you make red?

And what two colors make red? If you mix magenta and yellow, you get red. For example, what color does red and blue make when mixed together?

Here are some of the most popular colors you can make with red! Secondary colors are those created when you combine any two primary colors. There are only three of them, so there are only two secondary colors made with red:. Tertiary colors are created when you combine primary and secondary colors together. The three tertiary colors made with red are:. Quaternary and Quinary Colors are ones when you combine various hues of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors together. There are a nearly infinite number of them , depending upon the amount of each component added.

These colors are also affected by two concepts called tint and shade. Tints are colors made by adding white to another color. So adding white to red creates a tint that we know as pink. Shades are made by adding black to another color. Adding black to red gives you a deeper shade of red, like mahogany.

Red is actually a pretty complex color. We can hear you already. Has my whole life been a lie?! Not exactly. Most of us learn at an early age in elementary school that red is one of the primary colors. We were taught that Red, Yellow, and Blue are the primary colors. And most importantly that a primary color cannot be created by mixing other colors. So in theory, if Red is a primary color we should not be able to make it by mixing any two colors.

But before we do that I wanted to share with you a little background on why we were taught this. Do you remember when you got your first brand new set of water color paints in elementary school? Your teacher probably taught you how to mix paint using the basic color wheel that consisted of the primary colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue. The simple diagram above explains that if you mix the colors adjacent to each other you will get a new color. These colors mixed together make up the secondary colors.

Essentially you can create six colors if you have a color palette consisting of your primary colors. Forgot to mention you can also make black if you mix all of these colors together. But is this really the origin of all colors?

Red is not a Primary Color I often see red and blue included in paint sets and on color wheels as a primary color. A bright fire engine red is usually shown as the red and some form of navy blue such as ultramarine stands in for the blue. Neither of these colors are primaries.

Have you ever wondered why inkjet printers use the colors Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow for creating colors instead of red, yellow, and blue? Tertiary colors are created by mixing a combination of primary and secondary colors. The most popular examples of tertiary colors would be yellow-green , yellow-orange , red-orange , blue-violet , red-violet , and blue-green.

As is the case with secondary colors, you can create different hues or shades of tertiary colors by mixing more or less of the applicable colors. Black and white are what experts call neutral colors. The combination of black and white creates gray, which is technically considered as another neutral color.

First and foremost, there are no two colors you can mix to create red. The same would be true of the other primary colors because these are the three colors that serve as building blocks for all other colors. While you cannot create red by mixing any two colors, there is an alternative process you can use to create the color red off of an alternative color wheel.

The alternative process of mixing colors is called subtractive color mixing. The color mixes listed above are based on the traditional color wheel but there are in fact several color wheels based on different color models and the subtractive mixing process is based on the subtractive color wheel.

The traditional color wheel includes the aforementioned primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, but the subtractive color wheel has its own set of primary colors, those being cyan, yellow, and magenta. The primaries here are red, green, and blue. There are well over different shades, hues, or tints of red. In your mind, you are probably trying to conjure up mental pictures of each of these colors.

But how would someone go about creating these colors? Sticking with the listed shades of red, we will tell you the color mixes that create them:.