ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Theory of colours

Colours depend on how our eyes see light. Light is invisible. We can't see it unless something (like the sun) is making it visible. When the sun shines, we see the different colours in the light because different colours bend (or "refract") differently. The way we see these colours is the Theory of Colors. When light passes through a prism, it bends and splits up into all of the colours that make up the rainbow. When it comes out of the other side, we see all of the colours in the rainbow. This is because each colour has a slightly different wavelength and bends differently than the other colours. So, when we look at a rainbow, we can actually see all of the colours in the light!