Bill Nye the Science Guy S01E16 Light and Color
Summary
TLDRThis video script explains the science of light and color in an engaging and playful manner. It discusses how white light is a mixture of all the colors in the rainbow and how different objects reflect and absorb various wavelengths of light, giving them their distinct colors. The video includes demonstrations using prisms, food coloring, and neon lights to show how light behaves. With humor and music, it also explains why the sky is blue and how light impacts our perception of the world around us. The show emphasizes the intersection of science and everyday phenomena.
Takeaways
- 🌈 White light is a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow.
- 🔴 Red light can make you stop, and green light can make you go.
- 🎨 When white light hits an object, we see the color that is reflected by that object.
- 🔦 A prism can break white light into a spectrum of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
- 🔵 Mixing different colors of light (like red, green, and blue) gives white light, but mixing colored paints gives black or brown.
- 🍎 Fruits and vegetables appear in different colors because of chemicals in their skin reflecting and absorbing different wavelengths of light.
- 💡 Objects that are black absorb almost all colors and convert light into heat, while white objects reflect almost all colors.
- 💧 Colors in soap bubbles are created by light waves reflecting off the inside and outside of the bubble, producing interference.
- 🔵 The sky appears blue because blue light is scattered more by the atmosphere than other colors.
- ⚡ Neon lights work by exciting neon gas inside tubes with high voltage electricity, producing colorful glowing light.
Q & A
What is white light made of?
-White light is a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
How does a prism affect white light?
-When white light passes through a prism, it breaks into all the colors of the rainbow, displaying the full spectrum of colors.
Why do objects appear a certain color?
-Objects appear a certain color because they reflect specific wavelengths of light while absorbing others. For example, an orange reflects orange light, while a green apple reflects green light.
Why does a black object feel warmer than a white object in light?
-A black object absorbs most colors of light and converts them into heat, making it warmer, while a white object reflects most colors and absorbs very little light, making it cooler.
What happens when you mix different colors of light?
-When you mix different colors of light, such as red, yellow, and blue, they combine to form white light.
What is the difference between mixing colors of light and mixing colors of paint?
-Mixing colors of light produces white, while mixing colors of paint produces darker shades, often resulting in brown, because paints absorb light rather than reflecting it.
How do neon lights work?
-Neon lights contain neon gas that becomes excited when exposed to high voltage electricity, emitting light. The specific color depends on the gas and the amount of energy applied.
Why do people use smoke in light shows or dance parties?
-Smoke is used in light shows so that light beams, like lasers, can be seen as they reflect off the smoke particles in the air.
Why is the sky blue?
-The sky appears blue because molecules in the atmosphere scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light, causing the sky to look blue to our eyes.
What role does pigment play in determining an object’s color?
-Pigment in an object absorbs certain wavelengths of light and reflects others, which is why we see specific colors. For example, red pigment absorbs most colors but reflects red.
Outlines
🌈 White Light and the Spectrum of Colors
This section introduces the concept that white light is a combination of all the colors of the rainbow. Through examples such as red light stopping traffic and green light allowing movement, it explains how different colors affect us. The show humorously introduces how white light, when passed through a prism, splits into the full spectrum of colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. It demonstrates how colors are pure and cannot be further broken down. There is a hands-on experiment mixing colored liquids to show how combinations create new colors like purple, orange, green, and even black.
🎨 Light Reflection and Color Absorption
This paragraph delves into how we perceive colors based on the reflection and absorption of light. It explains that objects appear colored because they reflect certain wavelengths of light while absorbing others. For instance, a black object absorbs most of the light and turns it into heat, while white objects reflect most colors. Paint works similarly by absorbing and reflecting different light wavelengths. Mixing light produces white, while mixing paint results in a brownish color due to how it absorbs light.
🚗 Absorption and Reflection in Everyday Objects
This part of the script explains how objects like clothes and cars reflect and absorb light, influencing how they appear. Black objects absorb more light and feel warmer, while white objects stay cooler by reflecting all colors. The character of Lance is introduced, who continually holds signs to remind people that the color of an object is the color of the light it reflects. There's also a humorous interlude about the effect of light absorption on black cars being hotter than white ones.
🔵 Why Is the Sky Blue?
The detective-style segment focuses on explaining why the sky appears blue. Sunlight, although white, scatters when it passes through the atmosphere. Blue light scatters more than red due to its shorter, faster waves, which is why we see a blue sky. A prism is used to illustrate how different colors of light bend, reinforcing that air molecules scatter blue light more effectively. The segment closes with the detective and his nephew discussing the color of the sky in a fun, light-hearted manner.
🌞 Light, Color, and Perception
This final paragraph wraps up the exploration of light and color, emphasizing how the colors we see are those that bounce off objects while others are absorbed. It highlights that without light, we wouldn't see color, and our world would be much duller. There’s a discussion about how light becomes heat when absorbed, and the paragraph ends with a playful send-off, encouraging viewers to think about how light and colors interact in their surroundings.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡White Light
💡Color Spectrum
💡Reflection and Absorption
💡Pigment
💡Prism
💡Primary Colors
💡Scattering
💡Neon Light
💡Wavelength
💡Heat Absorption
Highlights
White light is a mixture of all the colors of the rainbow.
Different colors are seen because objects absorb certain colors of light and reflect others.
White objects reflect all colors, while black objects absorb all colors and turn them into heat.
Red and blue lights combine to make purple, yellow and red make orange, and yellow and blue make green.
Colors are produced by chemicals in objects that reflect certain wavelengths of light and absorb others.
A prism can break white light into the full spectrum of visible colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
You can't break pure colors like red, green, and blue any further using a prism.
Mixing different colors of light produces white light, but mixing colored paints results in darker shades.
The reason black materials feel warmer is that they absorb more light and convert it into heat compared to lighter colors.
Neon lights work by using high voltage to excite neon gas inside glass tubes, producing different colors of light.
Lasers are intense beams of light that become visible when they reflect off particles like smoke or dust.
Soap bubbles display colors due to the interaction of light waves, with shorter waves like blue producing faster, brighter reflections.
The sky appears blue because blue light waves are scattered more by air molecules compared to other colors.
In nature, objects like charcoal absorb almost all light, while white surfaces reflect nearly all light back to your eyes.
Different colors in Crayola crayons are achieved by fine-tuning the pigments, producing a wide variety of distinguishable hues.
Transcripts
did you know that white light is a
mixture of all the colors of the
rainbow red light can make you stop
green light can make you go the other
colors can make you
[Music]
[Applause]
disco Bill n the Science Guy Bild n the
science
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guy the
science science Rules
inertia is a property of
matter the science
guide T
seconds the science guide brought to you
by color and
light did you know that white light is a
mixture of all the colors of the rainbow
it
is white lights hitting this basketball
but all we see
is orange and white lights hitting this
blue gelatin dessert but all we see is
blue gelatin and my coat well it's got
lots of
colors hey it's the show about light and
color now without different colors of
light we couldn't see different colored
things and of course without light well
we couldn't have a TV
show oh oh funny oh very funny you can
turn the lights on now turn the lights
on he s on my foot sorry
sorry I got it I got it now this is the
plastic waterfill prism of Science and
Shining into it is a bright white light
now when white light goes into a prison
it breaks up into all the colors of the
rainbow what we call the full spectrum
of colors so down here
here is the Spectrum being made by the
prism of science see here are all the
colors of the rainbow red orange yellow
green blue indigo and purple or Violet
now watch I'm going to try to break
these colors up using another
prism red
yellow
green
blue and violet
see they can't be broken up anymore what
that means is these are pure colors
white light is a mixture of all the
colors of the spectrum but each color is
its own
color white light is
colorful you can mix colors and get
different colors here's how put some
water into three empty glasses add red
food coloring to
one blue to another
and yellow to
another now mix them together
red and
blue make purple
yellow and
red make
orange yellow
and
blue make hey green and all the colors
mixed together
make
black what gives fruits and vegetables
all their different colors I don't know
well chemicals in the skin of the fruit
and vegetable absorb and reflect
different wavelengths of light take this
Orange it's absorbing all the colors of
light except Orange which it's
reflecting this green apple it's
reflecting green absorbing the other
colors the red pepper it's reflecting
red and absorbing the other colors
except red bet the no I could bet the no
I could
juggle got to do it got to get these
colors F oh yeah sure sure there it is
sure look at all those colors it's
chemicals reflecting and absorbing white
light from the Sun what a party party
watch it careful oh
ah watch it out oh oh bridges falling
down falling
[Music]
down this car is red because it's
reflecting red lights now leave me alone
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okay they're lined up to kick the extra
point and wait a minute there there's
some kind of disturbance Behind The End
Zone it's a rainbow Kad Lance and as
usual he's holding up a
sign white light is all the colors of
light mixed
together you know he's right about that
Timmy he certainly is
Lance consider the
following there's an old saying in
science we don't see things we see light
bouncing off of things so when you see
my tie you're seeing light from the lab
that hits the tie and goes into the
camera and works its way to your eye now
here in the lab we have almost perfectly
white light we have almost all the
colors of the spectrum but when you look
at my tie it looks black with just a few
brightly colored spots what's happening
to all the other colors where are they
going I don't know well they're getting
absorbed and turning into heat you may
have noticed this in a bright light or
in the Sun a black cloth feels slightly
warmer yeah slightly warmer than a white
cloth that's because the black cloth is
absorbing almost all the colors of light
that hit it and Chang them to heat
whereas the white cloth is reflecting
almost all the colors this is how paint
Works paint absorbs light paint has
little particles in it called pigment so
red paint is absorbing most of the light
that hits it and reflecting red yellow
is absorbing most of the light and
reflecting yellow and blue paint absorbs
most of the colors and reflects blue now
when we mix the colors of light red
orange yellow green blue indigo and
violet we get
white light but when we mix different
colors of paint doesn't work that way
red
yellow and
blue and
blue the bottle's given up
uhhuh and
blue okay
okay and blue
when they're mixed they don't turn white
they turn kind of a messy Brown that's
cuz it's absorbing light well there's a
lot of things in nature that absorb
almost all the colors of light that hit
them like charcoal or this dog well
thank you for considering the
following one of the things I really
like about neon is that it's a good
incorporation of science and art okay
now neon tubes are different than
incandescent bulbs the Neon gas is
inside of it now the Neon gas gets
excited when it's uh charged with high
voltage electricity and it pulses
throughout the tube neon is really great
in uh that there's a lot of different
possibilities color-wise with
[Music]
it now the key is to heat up the glass
evenly okay this is getting pretty l
and attaching the electrode perfect this
tube has Neon gas in it you don't get
the light and the color until you
introduce high voltage
electricity you do have to be careful
around neon uh because you're using high
voltage electricity you're using very
high voltage in order to excite the
molecules inside the tube it's neon it's
light it's color it's
lasers are beams of very intense light
but you can't see them till they bounce
off of something till they reflect off
smoke or dust
[Music]
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particles the reason they put smoke in
the air at dance parties is so the
lights have something to bounce off up
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[Applause]
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for about the last 17 years I've been
using lasers to do all kinds of laser
light shows and Laser
displays what we do is we take the laser
light the beam of light and we can move
it around very rapidly and precision and
draw animations and forms uh geometric
patterns
lasers are very powerful light this is
lasers a couple of watts and as you can
see it ought to be able to burn this uh
this pencil right
away working with with lasers it's
Showbiz and uh it's science so it's kind
of a combination of both and I guess
that's what I like most about it
[Music]
red things like these red clothes absorb
all colors of light except red
blue
yellow green they reflect red
light white reflects all
colors
blue yeah
yellow
red
green come on hit me with all you
got my pants are turquoise because
they're reflecting turquoise life now
leave me alone
okay here's the wind up and the pit wait
a second there's some kind of
disturbance behind home plate it's that
rainbow kid again Lance he's everywhere
with those signs of his the color of an
object is the color of the light it
reflects you know he's right about that
Jimmy he certainly is
Lance hey hey Science Guy why don't you
show me what's in that piece of junk
come on let's go come on you see he
thinks he's pretty cool but he actually
might be hot because he's in a black car
and black cars and black clothing absorb
all colors of light and convert them
into heat now a white car that's cool
come on man let's go come on pretty hot
sir yeah but not as hot as my
car hi I'm dressed in black because it
helps to keep me warm black absorbs most
of the heat from the Sun and reflects
very
little and when I wear white I stay cool
because white reflects all colors and
absorbs very little but you have to
admit even when science guy isn't
wearing white he's still pretty cool
uhhuh
yeah we all have rubber gloves on let's
start by mixing the colors lavender we
did that one you oh I have purple here
tiey it's
cool well I'm adding orange and I'm
doing like red orange and yellow kind of
like the light rainbow
color we are taking out the rubber bands
and we're going to see what we got rle
tins cuz it's like a mystery to us what
is it going to be
like totally
groovy go surfing D and look at them
flying aren't they gorgeous yes light
and
[Music]
color nura is a property ad that's so
true that's so
true oh boy
[Music]
[Applause]
hello officer is there a problem yes uh
Mr the Science Guy uh there is your tail
light is out here in the back oh boy I'm
sorry about that I'll get that fixed
right away it's funny that a light would
be out because we're doing a show today
about power yeah yeah see the guy with
the camera never heard that one before
sure yeah yeah see the guy with the
camera oh
yeah hey can I ask you a question uh
sure what's the deal with the green
lights and the red lights oh that's a
great question because you know red
green and blue are primary colors of
light and our eyes are especially
sensitive to them particularly green
this guy really does know his colors
thank you Mr the Science Guy you're
welcome officer 220 and don't forget to
get that tail light fixed uh sure that
red tail light
[Music]
check this
out see the colors in the bubbles where
do they come from I don't know the
colors in soap bubbles come from light
waves running into each other no kidding
we can think of light as traveling in
waves Now red light is long slow waves
and blue light
is short fast W it's upside down sorry
blue light short fast waves now when the
light enters the skin of a bubble most
of it goes right through but some of it
bounces off the inside of the bubble and
comes back toward your eye and then we
see colors
[Music]
there a lot of colors in the big city
most of the time you don't think twice
about it and then there are times you
can't stop thinking about
it my name is Luna van djk it's a Dutch
name that means trouble I'm a
detective it was a Saturday morning and
I was polishing my prism when he walked
into the office my nephew Davey I'm Luna
why is this guy BL
of all the questions and all the
Sciences he had to pick this
one wait here kid I'll be right
back hey why is the sky blue I don't
know hey why is the sky
blue why is the guy
blue I don't
know hey
why is the sky
[Applause]
[Music]
blue
yes well what'd you find out the
answer's right under our nose kid the
sunlight looks white but notice what
happens when you bend it with this prism
you get a whole lot of colors they Bend
as they go in the prism blue light has
been a lot more than red Bingo air
molecules in the sky scatter the
sunlight blue light get scattered a lot
more than red so blue is what we see Wow
Come on kid I'll buy you a Coco Luna van
D presented in black and white and
blue on a sunny day light from the sky
reflects off the water the sky is blue
so the water is blue
[Music]
hi my name's jandon I work at the
Crayola Factory and my my job involves
the science of
color it's all about the theory of color
mixing and just incrementally getting
smaller and smaller distinctions between
colors but that they're still visible
you can still see the visible difference
between them
[Music]
this is a Dye this is a pigment a Dye
it's a pigment pigment it's a dye
[Applause]
[Music]
it's art and it's science
red orange yellow green blue indigo
violet Roy G
Biv my coat is black because it's
absorbing almost all the light now look
I warned
you it's extremely important that he
gets his first serve in here because oh
wait a second there's some kind of
disturbance behind the foreign line
judge no it couldn't be it is like Lance
it's a crazy rainbow kid again white
objects reflect all colors black objects
absorb all
colors you know he's right about that
Jimmy he certainly is
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
white light is a rainbow cleverly
disguised reflected by an object and
bounces to your
eyes whenever colors are absorbed are
colors we don't
see the color that bounces off is the
color we perceive if you've seen the
color white then you've seen all there
is too light and if you've seen the
color black you SE light absorb not give
them that light color
talking about the Spectrum B the light
color talking about the Spectrum
B and what happens to the colors that
get
absorbed well light becomes heating
things get
warm if there were no light there'd be
no
color in our world it'd be a whole lot
duller if you've seen the color white
and you've seen all the is light and if
you seen the color black you see light
abor now get that b light
color talking about the Spectrum from
the light color talking about the
Spectrum from the
light talking about the Spectrum from
the
light it was fun hanging out with you
today I hope you found Today's Show
enlightening anyway if you'll excuse me
I have got some wavelengths of light to
mix and reflect see
around see you next time there's light
bouncing off
you
Mood
Indigo produced in association with the
National Science Foundation
[Music]
if you see a rainb here a just just
night so easy and the col are soy it's
just night just night rain is just night
just a rbow is just
[Applause]
[Music]
you see a RB and here a should know it's
just night just night it's so easy and
the colors are so pleasing it's just
night just a r is just just a RB is
just thank you
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