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Why Your Red Shirt Goes Black (Physics Level 8)

· 5:55 · S3 E6

Episode Why Your Red Shirt Goes Black (Physics Level 8)

0:00 5:55

By the end you'll know why that shirt goes black. First we take white light apart to see what's inside it. Then we see that every coloured thing you've ever looked at is really throwing light away.

Back to the shirt, and now the listener can explain it themselves. A red object only reflects red. Green light contains no red. So nothing bounces back to your eye, and you see black. Colour was never in the shirt. It was in the light.

Sources:

• https://spark.iop.org/newtons-visible-spectrum • https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/explain-newtons-experiment-by-which-he-proved-class-12-physics-cbse-61559cfe8ec0356042a8b957 • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum • https://www.britannica.com/science/primary-color • https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2015/01/22/why-are-red-yellow-and-blue-the-primary-colors-in-painting-but-computer-screens-use-red-green-and-blue/ • https://www.britannica.com/science/RGB-color-model

Source: Episode 6 - Physics Level 8, Light and Colour (6/17) Style: Exam prep Length: 849 words, 5 min target Generated: 2026-10-25

Links in the notes 6

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