why do different materials reflect different wavelengths? Also does this mean that everything is actually colorless and color is a function of reflecting light only?
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What do you define as color? If you take light out of the equation, everything is pitch black; there’s no color because there’s no medium to carry the color. So in that sense, yes, everything is colorless without light in the same sense that everything is dry without water.
Different materials reflect/refract different wavelengths based on how the bonds in the molecules are arranged/structured. Different bond lengths will emit different wavelengths of light when the electrons are excited by an incoming photon. Those wavelengths determine the “color” of the emitted photon, and thus what color you perceive the object to be.
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