Color wheel

The color wheel. The color of a complex is complementary to (180° across from) the color of the light absorbed. 

FIGURE 4 The perceived color of a complex in white light is the complementary color of the light that it absorbs. In this color wheel, complementary colors are opposite each other. The numbers are approximate wavelengths in nanometers. 

FIGURE 16.30 In a color wheel the color of light absorbed is opposite the color perceived. For example, a complex that absorbs orange light appears blue to the eye. 

The Color Wheel. Painter On-Line, The Maryland Institute, College of Art, http //www.mica.edu/painter/on line/colorwhe.htm... 

Use the Color Observation activity in eChapter 20.10 to predict the color a solution would appear if it absorbed blue, orange, red, or violet light. Does the Color Wheel activity in that same section confirm your predictions ... 

Color wheels take us on a sensational, visual ride. These wheels are color systems used to display colors in a systematic fashion and to illustrate a property of color called hue. Value and intensity, two other properties of color, are sometimes also illustrated in these color systems. 

Color Systems and Color Wheels A Ride Through Color / 35... 

The color wheel that we will be studying uses the colors as they appear in the rainbow, bent into a circle and connected together with the color red-violet. The color wheel consists of 12 main divisions, or sections. Three categories of color are represented in the hues of the wheel, and all appear in full strength a fourth category, neutrals, is not part of the color wheel. To review information about color (following the discussion below), Handout 1.1 may be distributed. 

Neutrals. Black, white, and gray are the three neutrals or noncolors, which are not part of the color wheel. A neutral, when used beside a color, intensifies the color. Black and white, if not used properly, can dominate a composition. We see black when no electromagnetic radiation reaches our eyes we see white when all the wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum reach our eyes. 

There are 12 colors on the color wheel that we are using (see Figure 1.8). They are divided into three groups ... 

Secondary Colors. Three colors Orange, green, and violet (or purple). Each secondary color is a mixture of equal amounts of the two primary colors on either side of it on the color wheel ... 

The name of the primary color always appears first. There could be many more than 12 divisions on the color wheel, but we will only use 12. 

Students will leam the proper sequence of colors as they appear on the color wheel. 

Level Two Creating a More Elaborate Color Wheel... 

Same as Level One, with the addition of heavy paper for making a pattern, a second sheet of paper for mounting the color wheel, and glue or rubber cement. 

When the color wheel is complete, design a motif or pattern of your own choice (see Figure 1.9 for an example) on the heavy paper. The motif should be large enough to cover the majority of a single pie-shaped section of the color wheel. 

Trace the motif onto each of the 12 sections of the color wheel cut out the shapes and arrange them on the second sheet of paper in the same order, creating a color wheel of original design. Outline each section with marker. 

Proceed by painting the next set of shapes, outward from the center, in the next color of the color wheel, an intermediate color. NOTE No two shapes sharing a common side should be painted the same color. 

Intensity (or Chroma). Intensity, or chroma, refers to the color strength or saturation of a hue. A pure color as it appears on the color wheel is the strongest or most intense. The intensity of a color can be lessened by the addition of gray to the color, which dulls the color. A second way to lessen the intensity of a color is to add the hue that appears directly opposite on the color wheel. This opposite color is referred to as its complement. 

Pencil ruler a full-strength color of poster paint (from the color wheel) ... 

Paint all the letters of the name in one full-strength hue of the color wheel. 

Handouts 1.2 and 1.3 (pages 60-61) pencil ruler 20-x-22-in. white posterboard scissors glue or rubber cement, full-strength color of poster paint (from the color wheel) black-and-white poster paints small paintbrushes mixing trays water containers black markers. 

Intensity, or chroma, refers to the saturation of a color. A color is saturated when it reaches its maximum intensity. An artist lessens the intensity of a color by adding gray to dull it or by adding the complementary color on the color wheel. The artist is changing the concentration of colored particles in a solution. A chemist knows that a solution is saturated when no more solute can dissolve in a particular volume of a solvent. The chemist expresses solution concentration in a quantitative way. One way for a chemist to express the concentration of a saturated solution is grams of solute per 100 ml of solution. Another way to express the concentration is in moles of solute per liter of solution. In a colored saturated solution, the color is at maximum intensity. If the solution is not saturated, the color is less intense because there are fewer colored particles to bring to the eye the wavelengths that are colored. 

Choose one of the 12 colors of the color wheel and paint the entire surface of the cube using the full-strength hue and a variety of lighter and darker values of the hue. 

Choose two complementary (opposite) colors from the color wheel, such as red and green. Paint one color in the top square and the other color in the bottom square. 

Choose two complementary colors from the color wheel. Paint the smallest shape with one color and the largest shape with the other color. 

Handouts 1.4 and 1.5 (pages 66-67) pencil ruler white posterboard poster paints (in complementary colors from the color wheel) paintbrushes mixing trays water containers heavy scrap paper and small pieces of cardboard or posterboard scissors glue or rubber cement. 

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