Using a digital camera to teach the physics of light

¾ digital cameras capable of 24-bit color (16.8 million colors) provide a unique and relatively inexpensive tool for teaching the physics of light. Many students are familiar with colors obtained by mixing different colors of paint. These color combinations represent subtractive color. Projected light, such as that emanating from the sun and reflected by objects, combines to form different additive colors. The concept of additive color may be more difficult for students to grasp because experimenting with this concept is perhaps more difficult in comparison to mixing paints. Yet, color televisions and computer monitors rely on the concept of additive color to display their many different colors. This paper shows how a digital camera may be used to demonstrate the concept of additive color and apply this concept for scientific investigation. The intended audience is K-12 educators, moreover instructors of college-level science courses that target nonscience majors