Where does colour come from?

Light from the sun has appears to have no hue or colour of its own; it is “white” light. But it actually does contain all colours, and if it is projected through a prism it will be separated into a band of colours like a rainbow. A coloured object, for example a flower, has colour because when light strikes it, the flower petals reflect their hue components or wavelengths of the light while absorbing other colours. In the example below the flower reflects the ‘magenta’ components, and the human eye being sensitive to these reflected wavelengths, sees them as magenta. Dyes, such as those found in paint, and colour prints acts just like the flower does in selectively absorbing and reflecting certain wavelengths of light and therefore producing colour.