How Do They Make Colors

We see colors, we use them since beginning of times, but those colors actually are?
If we are talking about the colors used in printing and drawing. Well, in this case, colors are made by either pigments or dyes on top of a substrate (the paper, or the canvas). These compounds (“chemicals”) absorb some of the visible wavelengths of light and either reflect, scatter, or transmit the rest. Under normal conditions the color you see depends on exactly which combination of wavelengths make it back to your eye.

There are many ways in which materials are colored. But the most common is where molecules absorb certain wavelengths of light. A dye that absorbs in the red area, for example, will appear cyan. The chemical structure of the molecule is related to the wavelengths absorbed. This is a bit complicated but, for example, more extensive conjugated double bonds in a molecule will result in different wavelengths being absorbed.

The majority of natural dyes are derived from plant sources: roots, berries, bark, leaves, wood, fungi and lichens. In the 21st century, most dyes are synthetic, i.e., are man-made from petrochemicals. Other than pigmentation, they have a range of applications including organic dye lasers, optical media (CD-R) and camera sensors (color filter array).

There is at least 9 ways of creating coloring substences (Safranin, Eosin, Basic Fuchsin, Acid Fuchsin, Crystal violet, Congo Red, Methylene Blue)

 

 

Paint

Paint is made of pigments (unsoluble colored grains) or dyes (soluble colorants) + binder(s) keeping the particles or sulution together + solvent(s) making the paint more liquid and easy to spread + additives like hardeners that help the paint set and dry to a hard film on the surface that it’s applied to. Because pigments are usually the most expensive ingredient, cheaper paints usually also have quite a lot of fillers or extenders that make it possible to make more paint with a lower amount of pigments and still look the part.