RGB light (additive)
RGB light (additive) is an interactive experiment in Colour Models, a free simulation from StudyFi Lab that runs right in your browser.
Three coloured spotlights – red, green and blue – shine on a black wall. Where the beams overlap, their light adds up: red + green = yellow, green + blue = cyan, red + blue = magenta, and all three at full strength give white. Every pixel of a screen mixes its colour the same way from three channels of 0–255, so it can show 256³ ≈ 16.7 million colours.
Try this: Switch blue off and set red and green to the same value – you get yellow. Then slowly lower green and watch the yellow turn orange.
Frequently asked questions
What does the “RGB light (additive)” experiment show?
Three coloured spotlights – red, green and blue – shine on a black wall. Where the beams overlap, their light adds up: red + green = yellow, green + blue = cyan, red + blue = magenta, and all three at full strength give white. Every pixel of a screen mixes its colour the same way from three channels of 0–255, so it can show 256³ ≈ 16.7 million colours.
How do I try “RGB light (additive)”?
Switch blue off and set red and green to the same value – you get yellow. Then slowly lower green and watch the yellow turn orange.
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