General Awareness

Color Theory and Symbolism

1,945 Questions

Color theory and symbolism examine primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, alongside their psychological and cultural meanings. Questions also cover color spaces, photography, and optical properties. This specialized topic appears in design, architecture, and general intelligence sections of various competitive exams.

Primary and secondary colorsColor spaces and modelsCultural color symbolismChemical compound colorsOptical color properties

Color Theory and Symbolism Questions

Multiple choice

Which cluster has all the words that belong to the headword ‘blue’?

  1. Royal, sapphire, clean, azure, cobalt

  2. Navy, indigo, sadness, sky, ocean

  3. Gay, aqua, cold, azure, indigo

  4. Pleasant, lighthearted, saline, water, beryl

  5. Deep, vulgar, obscene, kind, clever
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

All of these words are associated with the word blue. Blue is the colour associated with navy, sky and ocean. Indigo is a shade of blue. To feel blue is to feel unhappy.

Multiple choice

Which cluster has all the words that belong to the headword ‘red’?

  1. Crimson, danger, debt, cherry, flame

  2. Blood, brick, ruby, Bolshevik, sensational

  3. Wine, glowing, geranium, scarlet, envy

  4. Vermilion, blush, flesh, fiery, wealth

  5. Sadness, royalty, glow, flames, warm
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

All of these words are associated with red. Crimson means red. When a person is in the red, they are in debt. Red is also the colour associated with danger. Cherries and flames are red in colour.

Multiple choice

Which of the following statements is true?

  1. Hottest stars are blue and coolest are red in colour.

  2. Hottest stars are yellow and coolest are blue in colour.

  3. Hottest stars are red and coolest are blue in colour.

  4. Hottest stars are white and coolest are blue in colour.

  5. Hottest stars are violet and coolest are green in colour.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

We can determine the temperature of the stars by determining their colour. Hottest stars are blue and coolest are red in colour.

Multiple choice

In the human eye, cones possess their own characteristic photopigments that respond to a group of colours. Which of the following groups of colours represent the same?

  1. Red, green and white

  2. White, yellow and red

  3. Green, red and blue

  4. Red, blue and white

  5. Green, blue and black
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Yes, it is correct. They respond to red, green and blue lights. The sensations of different colours are produced by various combinations of these cones and their photopigments. When these cones are stimulated equally, a sensation of white light is produced.

Multiple choice

A bear is facing south. He walks 5 km to his front, then turns right and walks 5 km to his front. He then turns right and walks 5 km to his front. He again turns right and walks 5 km to his front. He is now facing south. What is the colour of the bear?

  1. Brown

  2. Black

  3. White

  4. Grey

  5. Black and white
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

If in any direction the bear is facing south, then the bear should be at the north pole. In northern polar region, only polar bears exist, which are white in colour.

Multiple choice

What does yellow spot contain?

  1. Only cones

  2. Only rods

  3. Both rods and cones

  4. Neither rods nor cones
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Yellow spot contains only cones.

Multiple choice

What will be the colour of the shadow formed in red lights?

  1. Yellow

  2. Red

  3. Black

  4. Green
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Whenever an opaque object is kept in the path of the light, it forms a dark patch behind itself. This dark patch is known as a shadow. It is always black in colour irrespective of the object colour or light colour falling on it.

Multiple choice

How many colours does the sunlight spectrum have?

  1. Four

  2. Five

  3. Three

  4. Seven
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The visible spectrum of sunlight contains seven colors traditionally remembered by ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. These represent the range of wavelengths visible to the human eye, from longest (red) to shortest (violet).

Multiple choice

A blue glass, when heated, will glow with

  1. blue colour

  2. red colour

  3. white light

  4. yellow colour
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

When any solid material is heated to incandescence (glowing due to heat), it emits light according to blackbody radiation principles. The color depends on temperature - as temperature increases, the glow progresses from dull red to bright red, orange, yellow, white, and finally blue-white. A blue glass will still glow red first when heated because lower temperatures (around 700-800°C) produce red glow. The glass color only affects which wavelengths are transmitted in transmitted light, not the thermal emission color.

Multiple choice

Color-care a hair dye comes from

  1. Garnier

  2. Godrej

  3. Birla Ravlon

  4. HLL
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Color-care hair dye was manufactured by Birla Ravlon, a joint venture between the Birla group and Revlon. The brand was positioned as an affordable hair color option in the Indian market.

Multiple choice

By mixing all of the colours of the visible s 6 pectrum we produce

  1. Infra-red light

  2. Black light

  3. Purple light

  4. White light
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

When all colors of the visible spectrum are combined in equal proportions, they produce white light. This principle was demonstrated by Isaac Newton using a prism - he showed that white light can be separated into colors and then recombined back into white light. This is why white light contains all colors.