How many Colors are there?
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Hey, smarty pants, here's a riddle. What's something you probably have at least one favorite of? It comes in many different shades and could be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. If you said Meatcake Lady's newest creation, you're not wrong. One rainbow meatcake coming up! But if you said colors, you're absolutely right.

Colors are the hues, tones, and pigments that most of you see, well, pretty much everywhere, every single day. On the walls of your room, on your clothes, on your toys. Pretty much everything on Earth displays a unique color. Ahem.

Before you go any further, may I illuminate the subject? Who said that? Can't you see me? I'm right in front of your face. No, I don't see anyone. Well, I assure you, I'm here. Here, I'll give you some clues to my identity.

I'm super fast. I'm a particle and a wave. And I can really brighten up your day. Wow! Smarty Pants, any idea what it could be? Oh, I know! My rainbow meatcake in a jet plane!

No, I am light. Who cares how much you weigh? Not that kind of light. Oh, you mean light as in sunlight, electric light, or candle light. Exactly. The name's Rhea. Rhea Light. And I am the electromagnetic spectrum visible to the human eye. Ooh!

Often known as white light. Gotcha. Nice to meet you, Miss Light. Please, call me Raya. When you talk about colors, you have to talk about me. Because without light, there'd be no colors. At least, as perceived by the human eye. I see. And thanks to light, I see color.

But what exactly is color? How many different colors are there? And how did they get their names? Most importantly, who wants rainbow meatcake? Maybe later. Right now, it's time for another whiff of science and history on... Who Smarted? Who Smarted? Who's smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science or history?

Listen up, everyone. Smarting, lots of fun on Who Smarted? Hey, Smarty Pants. Trusty here with a special mission for all the Smarty Pants listening. But unlike a top secret mission, this mission requires you to tell everyone. That's right. Your job is to spread the word about Who Smarted so we can keep growing and bringing you awesome new episodes. To qualify for this mission, let's play a little game.

Got someone in mind? Great. Question two. Is it A, on a play date, B, at school, C, in the car, or D, on the phone?

Pick one, make a plan, stick to it. And best of all, complete this not-so-top-secret mission. I'm counting on you, Smarty Pants. The more people you tell, the bigger we grow, which means a lot more smarting for you. Psst, Smarty Pants, question. How do you think humans discovered the nature of colors? Like, what defines them? How do they behave? And how are they perceived or seen? ♪

Did we A. Send light through a prism, B. Examine Meatcake Lady's rainbow meatloaf under a microscope, or C. Play with magic markers and crayons until we knew all about colors?

If you said markers and crayons, that's certainly how many kids are exposed to the wonderful world of colors. But that's not the right answer. That, of course, is A. Scientists sent light through a prism. Great job if you got that right. Like I said, no ray of light, no colors. And I'm backed up by none other than Sir Isaac Newton, the world-renowned English physicist and mathematician. Isn't he also the guy with the apple on his head?

Ouch! I do say that hurt. Gravity! Yes. In 1666, Newton observed that white light sent through a prism divided into a range of colors we call the visible spectrum. Whoa. Oh, and for smarty pants who don't know, a prism is a

A prism is a piece of glass or other transparent object that's been cut to have very precise angles and flat areas. It's used to analyze and reflect light. Please continue, Miss, I mean, Raya. After observing the visible spectrum of light, Newton noted that the spectrum was continuous or nearly infinite. But to make things easier, he identified seven distinct colors which make up the core of the color wheel.

These colors should be pretty familiar to you, Smarty Pants. Let's see if they can name them. Oh, good idea, Raya. Okay, Smarty Pants, let's see if you can name the seven basic colors. As you may know, these colors also make up a rainbow. Okay, first, there's red, like a rose. Orange, like your orange juice. Yellow, like a banana peel.

Green, like boogers. Blue, like the ocean. Indigo, like the indigo bunting bird. And violet, like, um, like, uh, oh, like Violet from Willy Wonka. Violet, you're turning violet, Violet! Nice job. Each color corresponds to a specific range of light wavelengths. Smarty Pants, light, just like sound, is measured in waves.

These waves look kind of like ocean waves. They go up, form a peak, and then go back down. Thinking about the seven colors we just named, can you guess which color has the longest wavelength and which has the shortest wavelength? I'll give you a hint. I started with the longest and ended up with the shortest. Did you say red has the longest wavelength and violet has the shortest?

You're right. And in between, there's orange, yellow, green, indigo, and blue, from longest to shortest. But what about all the other colors, like the fun ones in your big box of crayons?

Things like scarlet red, mac and cheese yellow, inchworm green, aquamarine blue. To get those colors, you gotta add or subtract colors from Newton's basic seven. Add or subtract? Um, I thought we were talking about colors, not math. We are. But remember, Newton was a mathematician. Okay, so if we add or subtract colors from the first seven, how many new colors can we make? Smartypants, do

Do you know? Call out some answers. I heard a hundred, a thousand, a million. Are any of those right? When it comes to the colors the human eye can perceive, some estimate there are ten million. Ten million colors? Yep. And every single one of those millions of colors can be derived through addition or subtraction.

Or, as they're known in color theory, additive or subtractive mixture. And just to be clear, we're talking about mixing colors together, right? Right. Sometimes you add a color to another color or colors. And sometimes you remove a color from a mix of colors. That adding or subtracting helps form new colors. Of course, there needs to be a few base colors to start with.

Smarty Pants, do you know what those base colors are called? Not the colors themselves, but the group of base colors that can't be made by mixing other colors. Did you say primary colors? Great job. Now, do you know what the primary colors are? Did you say red, yellow, and blue? Amazing, Smarty Pants. What do you think of that, Raya? I think they're half right.

What do you mean? For a subtractive mixture, the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. But for additive mixture, the primary colors are red, green, and blue. Hold on, hold on. How can there be two different sets of primary colors? Smarty Pants, did you know about this? It's because of the difference between additive and subtractive mixture.

Additive mixture involves combining or dividing beams of light. Like what Newton did with his prism. Precisely. When you combine red, green, and blue light, you get white light, which transmits all colors on the visible spectrum.

Although Newton initially identified seven colors when he used the prism to divide white light, you only need to combine red, green, and blue light to make white light. That's what makes them primary colors for additive mixture. And what about subtractive mixture? Subtractive mixture involves absorbing or reflecting light, such as with pigments. Pigments, as in the stuff inside crayons, watercolors, and paint that makes them colorful?

Right-o. Red pigment absorbs yellow and blue light and reflects red light. Yellow pigment absorbs red and blue light and reflects yellow. I see. Hey, Smarty Pants, what do you think blue pigment absorbs? Did you say red and yellow?

Great job. And when you mix together red, yellow, and blue pigments, you get black, which absorbs all visible light and reflects no light. That's what makes red, yellow, and blue the primary colors for subtractive mixture. But wait, how can we see black if it reflects no light? Because that's what your eye sees.

Black, like darkness, is your eye perceiving or seeing a total lack of light. Ah, to see or not to see. That is the question?

Okay, so we know how colors are made and how many colors humans can see. But how did the colors get their names? I'm not talking scarlet, mac and cheese, and aquamarine. I'm talking the basics like red, yellow, green, blue, black, and white. The answer is right after this quick break.

Hey everyone, Trusty here. One of the things I love about hosting Who Smarted is getting to answer all those amazing questions from curious smarty pants. And that's why I'm excited to tell you about another show that does exactly that. Our friend's podcast, But Why? A podcast for curious kids. Have you ever asked something like, why does the wind blow? Or does skyscrapers actually scrape the sky? And you weren't quite sure of the answer?

Well, but why has you covered? They've answered questions from over 16,000 kids across 90 countries, and they're not afraid to tackle any topic, even the gross ones that make grown-ups squirm. I mean, they have whole episodes about poop and making paint from spit and rocks. How cool is that?

Their team gets real experts to answer real questions from real kids like you. So if your family loves learning interesting stuff on Who Smarted, you'll definitely want to check out But Why. You can find But Why wherever you get your podcasts. Have you ever asked questions like, I wonder who invented toilets? Or, why do dogs wag their tails? Or something.

Then have I got the thing for you. The Brains on Universe, a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. My name is Joy Dolo, and I host a funny and fabulous history show called Forever Ago. We explore the history of everything from bubblegum to how we sent messages before cell phones.

I live in New Zealand, and the Maori people there use smoke signals to send messages. There's also Brains On, a science show where we answer kids' questions like... Do plants sleep? And... Why do some people have asthma? And on the debate game show Smash Boom Best, you get to judge which is cooler, chocolate versus cheese, or Spider-Man versus Batman.

What is Batman's personality? He's a rich guy. Find Forever Ago, Brains On, and Smash Boom Best wherever you get your podcasts. Or head to BrainsOn.org to learn more. Now back to Who Smarted? Okay, smarty pants. It's time to find out how basic colors got their names. Care to shine some light on the subject, Raya? Sure.

English has 11 basic color words. There's red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black, gray, and brown.

Black and white, the earliest color words in the English language, didn't originate as color terms. Black comes from a word meaning burnt, and white comes from a word meaning shining. That makes sense. When something gets burnt, it turns dark or black. And when something shines, it's bright or white. Smarty Pants, which color word do you think developed next in the English language? I'll give you a hint.

It's the same as a wildly popular condiment. If you said yellow, like mustard, sorry, that's incorrect. If you said green, like relish, that's also incorrect. But if you said red, thinking of delicious ketchup, you're the top tomato. Red derives from the Sanskrit radaira, meaning bloody.

In Old English, one of the earliest written records of the word red is from 897 CE, over 1,000 years ago. Wow! Are there any other color words with written records that old?

Yes. Yellow and green appear in Old English around the same time. Other colors like blue, brown, and violet appear later, pretty much in that order. But words for colors don't always describe, well, colors. They can describe feelings, moods, or qualities. For instance, yellow can mean cowardly. Red can signal embarrassment or anger. And if you say you're feeling blue, that means, what, smarty pants? Did you say sad?

That's right. Say, Raya, were any of these meanings present when the words for colors developed? For those colors, I'm not quite sure, but the quality that green describes was in the meaning of the word from way back. Smartypants, what feeling, mood, or condition does green describe? Is it A, feeling happy?

B. Wanting a pickle. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. Or C. Being young and immature. No. The answer is C. Being young and immature. No. The word green derives from the Proto-Germanic groanee.

Later, when it evolved into the Old English green, it meant the color green, as well as youth and immaturity. Cool! With so many amazing colors to choose from, you'd think it would be hard to pick a favorite. But most people have one. Mine is orange. What about you, Smarty Pants? Shout out your favorite color or colors.

Nice. What about you, Rhea? As white light, I contain all the colors. I can't play favorites. Makes sense. Want to hear something wild? When you look at an object that's your favorite color, guess what? That object contains every single color but your favorite color.

It's true. In order for you to see that color, that color has to be reflected to your eye, which means it's not in the object. For example, an orange basketball is every color except orange. Whoa. I don't know about you, Smarty Pants, but color me amazed. If you think that's amazing, why don't you try my meat cake?

A bright and colorful shout out to Isaac in Wellington, New Zealand. We hear you love how Who Smarted makes you smarter, is funny, and is part of your daily ride to school. Oh, and you love when the trusty narrator talks about pizza. Yep, now I'm hungry.

This episode, Colors, was written by Daniel Gold and voiced by Melissa Magenta Del Toro Schaffner, Adam Teal Davis, and Jerry Kolber. Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hazel Hahn, who

Who Smarted? is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios. Our associate producer is Max Chartreuse-Kamaski. The theme song is by Brian Blue Steel Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis. Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production. Who Smarted?