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Color Filters - help5

Color filters are designed to absorb a range of wavlengths of light and allow other wavelengths to pass through. Wavelengths of light are associated with a color of light. A simple model for thinking about this is to think in terms of the three primary colors of light and in terms of six simple filters that absorb one or more primary light colors and transmit what isn't absorbed.

There are three similar versions of this question. Here is one of those versions:

Version 1:

Red, green, and blue light is incident on a magenta filter. Which of these light colors will pass through the filter?

A color filter will absorb a range of wavelengths within the ROYGBIV spectrum. In this Concept Builder, red, green, and blue light is incident upon the filter. It will absorb one or more of these primary colors of light. The light that does not get absorbed will pass through the filter (i.e., be transmitted). You have to determine the color(s) that is/are transmitted through the filter.

To answer this question, you need to know that the name given to the filter is an indicator of the color of light that it is able to transmit. For instance, a red filter transmits red light. A magenta filter transmits magenta light (red and blue light). Etc. In this question, the filter is magenta; so magenta light is passed through (transmitted) the filter. Magenta light is equivalent to red and blue light; so those are the two colors to choose as your answer.

Try this link to The Physics Classroom Tutorial for more help with the understanding how filters interact with the incident light:

Color Subtraction