Primary colors are sets of colors that can be combined to make a useful range of colors. For human applications, three primary colors are usually used, since human color vision is trichromatic.

For additive combination of colors, as in overlapping projected lights or in CRT displays, the primary colors normally used are red, green, and blue. For a subtractive combination of colors, as in mixing of pigments ordyes, such as in printing, the primaries normally used are magenta, yellow, and cyan,[1] though the set of red, yellow, and blue is popular among artists. [2] See RGB color model, CMYK color model, and RYB color model for more on these popular sets of primary colors.

Any particular choice for a given set of primary colors is derived from the spectral sensitivity of each of the human cone photoreceptors; three colors that fall within each of the sensitivity ranges of each of the human cone cells are red, green, and blue. [3] Other sets of colors can be used, though not all will well approximate the full range of color perception. For example, an early color photographic process,  autochrome, typically used orange, green, and violet primaries.[4] However, unless negative amounts of a color are allowed the gamut will be restricted by the choice of primaries.

The combination of any two primary colors creates a secondary color.The most commonly used additive color primaries are the secondary colors of the most commonly usedsubtractive color primaries, and vice versa.

Biological basisPrimary colors are not a fundamental property of light but are related to the physiological response of the eye to light. Fundamentally, light is a continuous spectrum of the wavelengths that can be detected by the human eye, an infinite-dimensional stimulus space.[5] However, the human eye normally contains only three types of color receptors, calledcone cells. Each color receptor responds to different ranges of the color spectrum. Humans and other species with three such types of color receptors are known as trichromats. These species respond to the light stimulus via a three-dimensional sensation, which generally can be modeled as a mixture of three primary colors. [5]

Before the nature of colorimetry and visual physiology were well understood, scientists such as Thomas Young,James Clerk Maxwell, and Hermann von Helmholtz expressed various opinions about what should be the three primary colors to describe the three primary color sensations of the eye. [6] Young originally proposed red, green, and violet, and Maxwell changed violet to blue; Helmholtz proposed "a slightly purplish red, a vegetation-green, slightly yellowish (wavelength about 5600 tenth-metres), and an ultramarine-blue (about 4820)". [7] In modern understanding, human cone cells do not correspond precisely to a specific set of primary colors, as each cone type responds to a range of color wavelengths. [clarification needed]

Species with different numbers of receptor cell types would have color vision requiring a different number of primaries. For example, for species known as tetrachromats, with four different color receptors, one would use four primary colors. Since humans can only see to 380 nanometers (violet), but tetrachromats can see into theultraviolet to about 300 nanometers, this fourth primary color for tetrachromats is located in the shorter-wavelength range. [8]

Many birds and marsupials are tetrachromats, and it has been suggested that some human females are tetrachromats as well,[9][10] having an extra variant version of the long-wave (L) cone type. [11] The peak response of human color receptors varies, even among individuals with "normal" color vision; [12] in non-human species this polymorphic variation is even greater, and it may well be adaptive. [13] Most placental mammals other than primates have only two types of color receptors and are therefore dichromats; to them, there are only two primary colors.

It would be incorrect to assume that the world "looks tinted" to an animal (or human) with anything other than the human standard of three color receptors. To an animal (or human) born that way, the world would look normal to it, but the animal's ability to detect and discriminate colors would be different from that of a human with normal color vision. If a human and an animal both look at a natural color, they see it as natural; however, if both look at a color reproduced via primary colors, such as on a  color television screen, the human may see it as matching the natural color, while the animal does not, since the primary colors have been chosen to suit human capabilities.

A secondary color is a color made by mixing two or more primary colors in a given color space. Some examples are the following:

secondary color    A color produced by mixing two additive primary colors in equal proportions.The secondary colors are cyan (a mixture of blue and green), magenta (amixture of blue and red), and yellow (a mixture of green and red). Eachsecondary color is also the complementary color (or complement) ofthe primary color whose wavelength it does not contain. Thus cyan is thecomplement of red, magenta is the complement of green, and yellow is thecomplement of blue. See Note at color. When you combine any two of the Pure Primary Hues, you get three new mixtures called Secondary Colors.

Think of the three Secondaries as the Children in the family of colors.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_color

www.technologystudent.com/designpro/pricol1.htmdictionary.reference.com/browse/secondary+colorA secondary color is a color made by mixing two primary colors together: red and yellow to get orange, yellow and blue to get green, or red and blue to get purple. The secondary color depends on the proportion in which you mix the two primaries. For example, if you add more red than yellow, you get a reddish orange, and if you add more yellow than red, you get a yellowish orange.

To help remember the three secondary colours on a colour wheel are located midway between the primary colours.

Orange goes between red and yellow.

Green goes between yellow and green.

Purple / violet goes between blue and red

To create any secondary colour you need to mix together equal amounts of the primary colours that touch their sides.

Green -- made from equal parts of blue and yellow

Orange -- made from equal parts of yellow and red

Violet -- made from equal parts of blue and red

If you are like most, your pie chart looks similar this one, which means you have a primary color (one driving core motive) but you also have a secondary color (another motive that influences they way you think and/or behave). Just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two Reds, Blues, Whites, or Yellows are alike either. We all have our differences, our nuances, our quirks. Just because the Color Code assessment indicates a person is a Core White personality, doesn’t mean that person necessarily possesses all of the White strengths or limitations. In most cases, an

individual will naturally possess both strengths and limitations from one or more of the other colors outside of his or her driving core motive as well.     

Since a secondary color directly affects the way a person thinks and behaves, it carries with it both positive and negative implications.

Advantages of Having a Secondary Color

There are three significant ways that a secondary color can enhance one’s life.

1.     Create Balance. Having a secondary color can be very positive in that it can help balance you. The strengths from a secondary color can be very complementary to the core color. Take a bold, driven, and confident Red personality, for example, and add a Blue secondary color that brings out a side of compassion and genuine care for others. The characteristics from the Blue secondary color can really temper the tendencies of the Red to be selfish and insensitive of others. Mother Theresa fits the mold of the current example. People are often surprised to hear

that she was Red, in fact, and not Blue, because she exhibited so many of the admirable Blue characteristics. What they don’t recall so readily was that Mother Theresa was extremely driven, efficient, and visionary—a Red complemented by compassion from her Blue secondary color.   As you can see, someone like this is hard to beat.

2.     Develop Other Positive Secondary Color Characteristics Easily. Another advantage to having a secondary color is the ease with which you can develop positive characteristics within that color—this is the “charactering” process. For instance, if an individual already has many secondary White strengths, it is far easier to understand how to develop additional White strengths. The charactering process flows more smoothly because a base of familiarity already exists.

3.     Understand Other Driving Core Motives More Easily. A third way a secondary color can enhance someone’s life is in his/her relationships. It is much easier for someone to understand a Red if he/she has a secondary Red. In many ways, they think and process similarly. One of the most common causes of conflict is the inability to see life from the perspective of others. Put a flippant Yellow student in a classroom, with a serious and rigid Blue teacher, and you’ve got a sure recipe for disaster. How can they understand and appreciate each other? At best they

will learn to cope and tolerate one another rather than develop any sort of positive and constructive student-teacher relationship. Having a secondary color might help the Yellow student know when it’s appropriate to be serious and show respect to the teacher. The teacher would undoubtedly benefit from some secondary Yellow to understand how to breathe new life into her lectures and roll with the playful teasing rather than get upset and turn resentful.

Disadvantages of Having a Secondary Color

Having a strong secondary color can also bring with it some drawbacks. Here are three ways a secondary color can negatively affect behavior.

1.     Creates Personality Incongruence. This first struggle is probably the most significant. A secondary color can make an individual incongruent, and thereby less effective. This generally occurs when the characteristics of the secondary color are predominately negative limitations.

For example, let’s look at a White man who is generally pleasant, inventive, and kind. Then consider how he would be perceived if all of a sudden he began to display the very negative Red secondary characteristics of being bossy, argumentative, and insensitive to others. This man would make very little sense to those around him. He would seem to be a Jekyll and Hyde. This phenomenon is personality incongruence, and is very damaging to an individual’s ability to create positive relationships.

2.     Mistrust of Incongruity by Others. The problem with incongruence is that others will find it hard to trust you. Even without knowing the Color Code, people get an intuitive read on what others are naturally like. It is easy to perceive when someone is not acting true to him or herself. We find the person to be phony and certainly unworthy of complete trust.

People are more inclined to forgive others for the limitations they display from within their own core color than those that come from a secondary or other non-core color.

For example, if a Yellow is irresponsible, others will tend to write it off as “that’s just the way he or she is.” However, if that same Yellow exhibited the Blue limitation of being judgmental, people would not excuse the behavior so readily. Further, it would actually seem much worse than if a Blue were to display judgmental attitudes and behaviors.

In Summary

Having a secondary color is a positive condition if the strengths of one’s secondary color are developed and the limitations are minimized. It is true that the strengths of a secondary color are generally easier to develop because we are already somewhat familiar with them. On the contrary, trying to develop strengths from a color other than our core or secondary color is usually more difficult. We don’t have the luxury of natural familiarity with how those characteristics function and we may find we accidentally take on a limitation as well.