An Approach to a Physical Understanding of Color Mixing

Although nearly everyone is familiar with colors from an early age and the fundamentals of color mixing are taught at various abstraction levels throughout kindergarten to high school, we repeatedly observe that our student teachers in physics have problems in explaining the subject. Therefore, we propose an experimental setup that focuses on the physical principles instead of on primary colors and that allows one to observe the color perception and the spectral composition simultaneously. Customary school equipment is sufficient to realize the setup. The concepts are appropriate for junior high level learners and above, encouraging students to experience color as a continuum rather than discrete shades. Moreover, teachers can inspect the quality of available color filters and prepare for experimental difficulties.