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Does color have weight?

Is red heavier than blue or blue heavier than red? do we weigh less if we are transparent?

Thanks for your time and answers!! :)

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    Best Answer (Chosen by Voting):

    AnonymousButCandid - 56-60 years old - male

    Posted by AnonymousButCandid Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:26PM

    Now, according to Einstein, all "energy" does have mass -- but "color" is a perception made by the human brain. Color is nothing more than the brain's recognition of which of your cones in the retina of your eyes have been firing in response to the light.

    A perception does not have mass at all. Therefore red is not heavier than blue.

    [ Reply ] | Like (7)

  1. ThelaughingSky - 16-17 years old - male

    Reply by ThelaughingSky Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:52PM

    I see, thanks for the research

    Like (1)

  2. AnonymousButCandid - 56-60 years old - male

    Reply by AnonymousButCandid Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:54PM

    Thank you for your reply.

    Like (1)

    2 more replies

15 Answers to "Does color have weight?"

  1. Jiffle - 22-25 years old

    Posted by Jiffle Mar 3rd, 2013 at 6:47PM

    Colour is the light that doesn't get absorbed by an object. A leaf will absorb all the other colour in white light except green, which gets reflected back into your eye.

    White, visible light is part of the spectrum of frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum. X rays and gamma rays lie at the high energy end of the spectrum. Radio waves lie at the other end. Red is lower frequency and blue is the higher frequency on the visible light spectrum.

    Weight is determined by mass and gravity. Light has little or no mass, so colour has little or no weight. Blue has higher energy though.

    I think that's why red light is easier on your eye in low light levels. I don't actually know that to be true though, just my assumption.

    Like (3)

  2. BabzEsq24 - 46-50 years old - female

    Posted by BabzEsq24 Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:51PM

    Gold is quite heavy

    Like (3)

  3. 4vrUnique - 46-50 years old

    Reply by 4vrUnique Mar 3rd, 2013 at 9:05PM

    LOL ... clever answer.

    Like (1)

  4. freeed - 61-65 years old - male

    Posted by freeed Mar 3rd, 2013 at 3:09PM

    Colors are a small part of the EM spectrum - just the visible light part - which also includes X-rays and radio waves. Generally light is considered not to have mass, so it can't "weigh" anything. However:
    http://open.salon.com/blog/kwatts59/2009/02/18/physics_what_is_the_mass_of_light
    says
    "So putting these equations together gives the following: E = mc2 = hc/y. Thus m = h/cy. The wavelength of visible light is from 400 to 700 nm. So to calculate the rest mass of light in the visible range, that has a wavelength of let's say 500 nm, we plug in the information and get the following:
    m = 6.626 x 10-34 J s/ (3.0 x 108 m/s x 500 x 10-9 m)
    m = 4.417 x 10-36 kg
    So there you have it. The rest mass of a single photon of light at a wavelength of 500nm is 4.417 x 10-36 kg. Since light is never at rest, this number is actually the "effective" mass of a photon of light."

    By this, blue would be heavier as its wavelength is shorter. BUT as said, light never rests (v=0 - it's always v=c). Moot point. Thanks for making me think!

    Like (2)

  5. 4vrUnique - 46-50 years old

    Reply by 4vrUnique Mar 3rd, 2013 at 8:57PM

    Huh ... can you explain this to us lay people. -- Does the weight have anything to do with the spectrum (blue travels farther & brighter vs yellow)? Just curious.

    Like (1)

  6. tito2003 - 31-35 years old - male

    Posted by tito2003 Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:28PM

    paint does

    Like (2)

  7. ThelaughingSky - 16-17 years old - male

    Reply by ThelaughingSky Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:48PM

    Yeah, but it's not the color that has weight, it's the liquid paint itself that has it. Another example is; which one is heavier? a paper, or a paper drenched in paint? But anyways, I appreciate all your answers and thanks!

    Like (1)

  8. 4vrUnique - 46-50 years old

    Reply by 4vrUnique Mar 3rd, 2013 at 9:09PM

    It would be a paper drenched in paint because it would have the properties of the paper and the paint. Paint is a kind of chemical that is colored & I don't think its the same thing. Just like a car can be red and a plane white, does that mean white is heavier? No. You need to measure each element separately.

    Like (1)

  9. MagnusRobotFighter - 41-45 years old - male

    Posted by MagnusRobotFighter Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:26PM

    Does a shrimp weigh more if it's cooked?

    Like (2)

  10. ThelaughingSky - 16-17 years old - male

    Reply by ThelaughingSky Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:49PM

    Good question

    Like (1)

  11. BabzEsq24 - 46-50 years old - female

    Reply by BabzEsq24 Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:50PM

    less- it loses moisture

    Like (1)

  12. canofham - 31-35 years old - male

    Posted by canofham Mar 5th, 2013 at 12:27PM

    Not physically, but mentally, different colors can be perceived to have different weights. Such as in a study...
    Overall, blue is heavier than red, red is heavier than green, and green is heavier than yellow.
    Brighter colors weigh less than darker ones.
    Increasing saturation makes colors appear to weigh less.
    Brighter backgrounds make dark colors look lighter (less heavy) and bright colors look heavier.

    Like (1)

  13. davina1407 - 56-60 years old - male

    Posted by davina1407 Mar 3rd, 2013 at 3:30PM

    Only subjectively, in the sense that you might consider one colour to be more important or more serious than another. Like, would you go to the office dressed in yellow?

    Like (1)

  14. ThelaughingSky - 16-17 years old - male

    Reply by ThelaughingSky Mar 3rd, 2013 at 3:53PM

    red and blue are just examples, importance of colors are not clearly the main subject in here.....

    Like (1)

  15. Frakedes - 18-21 years old - male

    Posted by Frakedes Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:47PM

    well..............................................................................................

    Like (1)

  16. petul - 36-40 years old

    Posted by petul Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:40PM

    technically yeah color has weight, possibly.

    Like (1)

  17. ilovenellyxoxo - 13-15 years old

    Posted by ilovenellyxoxo Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:28PM

    Yes

    Like (1)

  18. wishingforrecovery - 13-15 years old - female

    Posted by wishingforrecovery Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:27PM

    I dont see how blue would weigh anything different than red...or why it would matter if it did

    Like (1)

  19. 4vrUnique - 46-50 years old

    Reply by 4vrUnique Mar 3rd, 2013 at 9:17PM

    I'm gathering this is one of those lets ponder the idea kind of questions. Like lets say blue did weigh more than red, do you think say airlines would not add blue to their planes to slow down the effectiveness of the ride, so they'd use less fuel to travel the same distance. Its amazing the kinds of details that emerge when you think about the possibilities of new ideas.

    Like (1)

  20. TragicWhispers - 26-30 years old - female

    Posted by TragicWhispers Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:26PM

    No, they don't have weight. Colorwaves do have length, though.

    Like (1)

  21. ohmygah - 31-35 years old - female

    Posted by ohmygah Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:25PM

    No, it's refracted light.

    Like (1)

  22. SupermanDC - 51-55 years old - male

    Posted by SupermanDC Mar 3rd, 2013 at 2:24PM

    They all the same to me ...

    Like (1)

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