These are coloured lights, not paints. Red light and green light together can look yellow. Red and blue can look magenta, while green and blue can look cyan. Add balanced red, green and blue light and the overlap can look white. With all three lights off, the screen is dark.
Light, sound and electricity · Discover & try
What happens when coloured lights overlap?
Reading level 1 of 5 · EarlyChange
Word help
additive mixing
Combining light contributions.
RGB
Red, green and blue display channels.
Watch · Try · Explain
See how it works
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Illustrative additive RGB display; not paint mixing or calibrated lamp spectra.
What to look for
- Pairs make different colours
- Balanced channels give neutral light
- Zero channels leave the screen dark
Explain what you noticed
A stage already has equal red and blue beams. Which added beam makes the centre neutral in this RGB model?
Keep this idea: Mixing light follows different rules from mixing paint.
Follow the sources
- Smithsonian Libraries — The Science of Color
- Smithsonian National Postal Museum — Revealing the Rainbow: Science of Color
Source material checked 2026-10-28. Explanations and activities by Nepedia. Source links do not imply endorsement.
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