What exactly are colors?

Question

I understand the underlying basic concept of colours from my Biology/Chemistry classes. “Things” absorb some wavelengths, or emit other wavelengths (something like that).

But like, why and how? For instance, what makes a wood chair white and a wood table red? Aren’t both atom’s composition the same? How can they emit different colors at all?

In: 1

Answer 1

It’s not about atoms (usually) but about *molecules.* Those different woods have different molecules in them, perhaps some also the same but some different.