Colour
-- Alternatively
Black is not a colour, it is merely the absence of light.
Not true.
If you see a black thing, it is a Colour which reflects the least amount of light, hence black.
You can't see black without having some light to not reflect off it. Total absence of light looks like black but it's really just no colour at all.
Aneurin says: this really depends on your definition of colour. Here's my take on it...
Colour, as far as I'm aware is the perception of the properties of hue (dominant wavelength, tone), chroma (saturation, intensity) and luminance (brightness) from the 380nm-740nm wavelength that we call "visable light".
Colour has an achromatic scale where there is no separation of the spectrum; where chroma = 0 and therefore hue = 0, leaving only luminance as a factor. You can say 0 = black and 255 = white. See the HSV colour model for a better understanding.
However, in the real world absolute black only causes no spectral separation because there is no reflectance to separate. There is no light to perceive. But that doesn't matter! It still registers on the achromatic scale! In graphic terms it's still colour!
Ugh, colour physics blows. When you start factoring in the human tristimulus color space (check out CIE 1931!) it all gets shit anyway.
Eat shit kthx.
Its all about the quantum photons man.... ooooohh cosmic .::. Sebb
Doooood, don't be racist.
Thassit, geyur nahn-laht-re-flay-ctin' ass off'n mah popahtay!