ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Color

Colors are what we see around us and help us see things. Imagine a world where everything is just black and white. How boring would that be? Color is what makes things interesting and fun.

Colors are like different types of candy. Each candy tastes different and looks different. Like red candy and yellow candy, they look different but are both sweet. Colors work the same way, they look different but they all belong to the same group of colors.

When light hits something, it bounces back and enters our eyes. Our eyes are like cameras and they capture the light and send a message to our brain about what we see. The color of the thing we see depends on what the thing is made of and what colors of light it reflects.

Some colors are called primary colors, which means all other colors can be made from mixing these three colors. The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.

When we mix two primary colors together, they make a new color. For example, when we mix red and blue together, we get purple. When we mix blue and yellow, we get green. When we mix yellow and red, we get orange.

There are also something called complementary colors. These colors are opposite each other on a color wheel. They are blue and orange, red and green, and yellow and purple. When we mix these colors together, they make a neutral color like gray or brown.

So, color is what makes the world interesting and pretty. We see colors when light bounces off things and enters our eyes. We can mix colors together to get new colors or make them neutral.