The appearance of an object is not solely dependent on the color-absorbing characteristics of that object. The appearance of an object actually depends upon the type of light that the object is illuminated with and how the object interacts with the light to absorb and reflect the light which is incident upon it. In this activity, you will manipulate the type of light which is incident upon a person and observe the corresponding appearance of the person (and his clothing) and the appearance of the shadows projected on the screen behind the person. Use the on-screen buttons and the  push-button light switches to explore the world of color addition and subtraction.

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Tutorial information on color addition and color subtraction is available at The Physics Classroom Tutorial.