Reflected Light

Color:
Opaque Objects. Most objects are visible to us because of the light diffusely reflected from them. A white object, such as a sheet of paper, a whitewashed fence, or a table cloth, absorbs little of the light which falls upon it, but reflects nearly all, thus producing the sensation of white. A red carpet absorbs the light rays incident upon it except the red rays, and these it reflects to the eye.

Any substance or object which reflects none of the rays which fall upon it, but absorbs all, appears black; no rays reach the eye, and there is an absence of any color sensation. Coal and tar and soot are good illustrations of objects which absorb all the light which falls upon them.