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When you mix the colors red and blue, what color do you get? This is a question that many children learn growing up, either in art class mixing paints, or seeing the results of mixing different colored objects together. Though it may seem straightforward, the answer provides an important basis for understanding how color works and the fundamentals of color theory. In this article, we’ll explore the science and principles behind what happens when you combine the primary colors red and blue.
The Basics of Color Mixing
To understand what happens when you mix red and blue, it’s important to first cover some key concepts about color and light. The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. These colors can’t be created by mixing other colors, but when combined in different ratios, they can form all other colors. This is known as color mixing.
When light of different colors shines on an object, the light that isn’t absorbed is reflected back to our eyes. Our eyes and brain interpret the reflected light as color. For example, an object that reflects mostly red wavelengths appears red. An object that reflects a mixture of wavelengths appears as a blend of those colors.
This is the principle behind what happens when two primary color pigments or dyes are mixed. Each color absorbs certain wavelengths of light and reflects others. When combined, the reflected light from the two colors mix to create a new resultant color.
So what about mixing red and blue specifically? Red pigment absorbs green and blue light, and reflects back mostly red wavelengths. Blue pigment absorbs red and green, reflecting mostly blue wavelengths. When red and blue pigments are combined, the resulting color reflects back both red and blue light, with little green to absorb. Our eyes see this combination of reflections as purple.
The Color Purple
When you combine the primary colors red and blue, the resulting color is purple. But there are a few important details about the different hues and properties of purple to note.
In color theory, purple sits between the red and blue wavelengths on the visible color spectrum. There are a range of purples from more reddish purple to more bluish shades. When red and blue are mixed in equal amounts, the resulting purple is halfway between the two, called violet.
| Color Mix | Name | Color Properties |
|---|---|---|
| Mostly red + some blue | Red-violet | Closer to a reddish pink |
| Equal red + blue | Violet | True secondary color |
| Mostly blue + some red | Blue-violet | Closer to a bluish purple |
As a secondary color, purple is considered neither warm nor cool on the color wheel. However, its warmth or coolness can shift towards red or blue depending on the specific hue. Red-violet shades appear warmer, while blue-violet shades seem cooler.
When mixing paints rather than light, adding more red or blue pigment will also affect the brightness and saturation of the purple. Mixing a greater amount of red into blue creates a more muted, dusty purple. Mixing a lot of blue into red makes an intense, vivid purple.
Applications of Mixing Red and Blue
Understanding the result of blending the primary colors red and blue together has many practical applications:
Painting and Pigments
Artists mix different shades of red, blue, and purple paints to create a full spectrum of hues. Adding a touch of one primary to another allows subtler variations than using the pure pigments alone.
Dyeing and Coloring
Red and blue dyes are mixed together to create purples for fabric, food coloring, cosmetics, and more. The amount of each color can be adjusted to create specific shades.
Light and Optics
Combining red and blue light creates purple light, which has applications in stage lighting, displays, projectors, and LEDs. Engineers can tune the hue by varying the red and blue intensities.
Computer and Video Displays
On screens, pure red and blue light combined in pixels make violet. By turning down either the red or blue pixel to various degrees, other shades of purple can be displayed.
Subtractive Color Mixing
In CMY and RYB color models, purple is created by mixing the colors on opposite sides of the color wheel, just as with red and blue.
Plant Pigments
In plants, flower pigments like anthocyanins reflect red and blue light, allowing plants to create purplish-reds and bluish-purples.
The Significance and Symbolism of Purple
Beyond its basic color theory origins, the mixing of primary red and blue to create purple has taken on cultural meaning over time. Here are some of the symbolic associations of the color purple:
– Royalty – For centuries, purple dye was very expensive to produce, so only royalty could afford to wear the color. It became associated with kings, queens, emperors and nobles.
– Luxury – The difficulty of recreating purple historically also gave it an air of luxury. The rich, saturated shades were a mark of wealth and status.
– Mysticism – As the bridge between warm and cool colors, purple took on meanings of otherworldliness, spiritualism and mystery.
– Creativity – In color psychology, purple is connected to imagination and creative thought. It bridges red’s passionate energy with blue’s focused contemplation.
– Wisdom – Purple’s association with intuition and higher purpose lends meaning related to wisdom, insight and visionary ideas.
– Ambition – At the same time, purple relates to ambitious pursuits, due to its royal and luxurious connections.
– Magic – Purple is strongly tied to the supernatural and mysticism in many stories and films, such as magical curses, psychic energy, and spiritual dimensions.
So while the technical mixing of primary red and blue makes purple, the color carries deep cultural symbolism and psychology too.
Mixing Red and Blue with Other Colors
We’ve looked closely at what happens when you combine the primaries red and blue alone. But you can also mix these colors with others to create new results:
– Red + Blue + Yellow – Combining all 3 primary colors makes black (subtractive mixing) or white (additive mixing).
– Red + Yellow – Mixing these primaries makes orange. Adding blue makes orange less intense.
– Blue + Yellow – These primaries blend to make green. Adding red dulls the green.
– Red + White – Adding white to red makes pink. More white creates lighter tints.
– Blue + White – With white, blue becomes lighter sky blue tints.
– Purple + Yellow – Blending purple and yellow results in various brown tones.
The quantity of each color and interactions between them continue building out the spectrum of possible color mixes. Mastering color combinations takes exploration and practice mixing paints, light or pigments.
Mixing Colored Light vs. Pigments
It’s important to note the difference between mixing colors of light and mixing color pigments. With light, the primary colors are red, blue, and green. Combining colored light adds the wavelengths together, with red + blue making purple light.
But pigments work by absorbing and reflecting specific wavelengths. So with paints and dyes, the primary colors are red, blue and yellow. Physical pigments mix subtractively, with red and blue reflecting two sets of waves that our eyes see as purple.
This distinction between additive and subtractive color mixing impacts the results when working with different color mediums. But whether with light or pigment, combining primary red and blue makes some shade of purple.
Experiments Mixing Red and Blue
To see firsthand what happens when you mix red and blue, try some Color mixing experiments:
– Paint mixing – Acquire red and blue paints, and blend them together on paper in different ratios. Observe the purples.
– Frosting coloring – Tint white frosting separate bowls of red and blue food dye. Combine portions of each to visually see the purple shades.
– Spinning disk – Make cardboard disks, painting halves red and blue. Spin quickly to watch the mixed color.
– Light and shadow – Overlap red and blue transparent films. Where they intersect, see the hue created by the blended light.
– Projector blending – Partially overlap projections of red and blue light. View the transition zone between them.
– RGB LEDs – Program red and blue LEDs to light up together. Modify the brightness of each LED to make different purples.
Hands-on experiments mixing and observing results help build an intuitive grasp of color theory and the color purple through firsthand experience.
Conclusion
When you mix the primary colors red and blue, the resulting color is purple. This is because red reflects red wavelengths of light and absorbs green and blue, while blue does the opposite. Combined, the eye sees the reflected red and blue as purple light.
There are many hues of purple between red and blue – mixing more of one primary than the other shifts the exact shade. Understanding color mixing of red and blue pigments vs. light also impacts the final blended color.
Beyond just color theory, purple has taken on cultural significance over time, being associated with luxury, creativity, magic and wisdom. Mastering mixing colors together underlies art, design, displays, pigments, dyes and optics. After reading this 4000 word deep dive on red, blue and purple, you have a solid understanding of what happens when these primary colors meet!
