Color

The perceived color of a material depends on the retina, the wavelength range of the incident light, and on the wavelengths absorbed (not reflected).

1 Makeup, clothes, and paints appear to be slightly different colors in sunlight and in artificial light.

2 Human eyes are less sensitive in the blue, (as are digital cameras), and color perception is lost in moonlight.

3 The color of a bulk material is often not the color of the same material when finely powdered. Hematite (an ore of iron) is black, but the steak left by hematite on a white ceramic tile is not black, but red, the color of dried blood - hence the name. Black magnetite leaves a black steak.

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