Colours and pigments quiz
Checked on 4 November 2026
Question 1 of 10
Discover
In the traditional painter's colour model, mixing blue and yellow makes which colour?
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The answer is Green.
In the red, yellow and blue model used by painters, blue and yellow combine to make green.
Discover
Screens build colours from light using RGB. What do the letters RGB stand for?
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The answer is Red, green, blue.
The RGB model adds together the red, green and blue primary colours of light to make a wide range of colours.
Discover
In the RGB model, what colour do you get when red, green and blue light are mixed at equal full intensity?
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The answer is White.
RGB is an additive model, so adding all three primary colours of light in equal intensity gives white.
Discover
In CMYK colour printing, which ink does the letter K stand for?
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The answer is Black.
CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black, with black printed by the so-called key plate.
Practise
In the RGB model used by screens, mixing red and green light gives which colour?
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The answer is Yellow.
Light mixes differently from paint: in the additive RGB model, red plus green makes yellow.
Practise
The deep blue pigment ultramarine was historically made from which semi-precious stone?
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The answer is Lapis lazuli.
Ultramarine was historically ground from lazurite, the main mineral in the rock lapis lazuli.
Practise
The brown colour sepia takes its name from the ink of which sea creature?
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The answer is Cuttlefish.
Sepia is named after the rich brown pigment taken from the ink sac of the common cuttlefish.
Expert
YInMn Blue, a new blue pigment found in 2009, was discovered at which university?
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The answer is Oregon State University.
Mas Subramanian's team found YInMn Blue in 2009, and its name comes from the symbols for yttrium, indium and manganese.
Expert
Prussian blue, the first modern synthetic pigment, was probably first made around 1706 in which city?
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The answer is Berlin.
The paint maker Johann Jacob Diesbach probably first made Prussian blue in Berlin around 1706.
Expert
The bright red pigment vermilion was originally made by grinding which mineral?
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The answer is Cinnabar.
Vermilion was first made by grinding the red mineral cinnabar into a fine powder.