When two colors are mixed together, the result is a new color that is created by the mixture of the two colors. This new color is often called a “complementary color.” Complementary colors are pairs of colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. For example, red and green are complementary colors because they are opposite each other on the color wheel. When these two colors are mixed together, they create a brownish-gray color.
What will happen if you add a small amount of red food coloring to green food coloring?
The result is a mixture of red and green that varies from slightly bluish to purple. The resulting mixture looks just like the color we call violet.
What’s going on?
Red and green are complementary colors: they can be combined to create a whole range of colors that are different shades of red and green. Think of complementary colors as building blocks of the color spectrum: they are like two sides of a ruler, each of which can be used to make many different shades of the color in between.
Red and green are also the primary colors in the rainbow. Red and green have a similar appearances, and we call them complementary colors because they seem to belong together. Red and green are opposites in the sense that they look the same side by side but opposite each other.
Red and green are also the first two colors in the spectrum of primary colors. They are followed by violet, blue, yellow, and orange.
