Why does greater invocation drains objects to white and not black?

[kroen]

White is actually a color, unlike black which is the absence of color. Usuaully Brandon's magic systems follow the laws of physics to a degree, but this one had me stumped.

[natc]

Vasher literally tells you black is a color that can be drained.

You are thinking of color in relation to light. In terms of pigmentation black is total absorption of light, while white is complete reflection (absence of pigmentation). The light is not what is being drained, but the object is.

[king of nowhere]

for the purpose of awakening, color is the capability to absorb light.  white is no light absorbed. black is all light absorbed. other colors are some specific wavelenghts absorbed

[Moogle]

There are subtractive color systems (eg. pigments), and additive color systems (eg. your monitor). The color of a material is determined by what wavelengths of light it absorbs, which makes the colors of physical objects a subtractive system. Because of this, it is natural for black to be a color in Awakening. It may be better to think of Awakening as draining pigment rather than color.

 

[Kurkistan he/him]

Ooh, nice diagram.

[Shadeshadow227]

My theory is that Awakening utilizes photons in some way, possibly as a kind of catalyst in the Awakening process. Specifically photons that have been absorbed by objects. Specific wavelengths of light also fall into my theory, as an Awakener at the 9th Heightening or lower is able to drain color from objects until they're gray, but an Awakener at the 10th Heightening can drain them until they're white. Also, an Awakener at the 10th heightening is able to split the wavelength of white light into other colors. The utilization of photons absorbed by an object also explains why black objects can be drained despite having no color, but white objects can't. And, aside from the photons, a Breath simply being a piece of a Shard may be the only reason why Awakened objects can achieve a semblance of life, or in Nightblood's case, full sentience.

So the reason why black can be drained and white can't...you're thinking backwards. You think that Awakening absorbs light wavelengths that are reflected, right? Awakening actually absorbs light wavelengths that the object absorbed instead of reflected.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Shadeshadow227

[Jondesu he/him]

3 hours ago, Shadeshadow227 said:

So the reason why black can be drained and white can't...you're thinking backwards. You think that Awakening absorbs light wavelengths that are reflected, right? Awakening actually absorbs light wavelengths that the object absorbed instead of reflected.

That...makes a ton of sense, actually. Have an upvote.

jW

[Oversleep]

@Shadeshadow227

Upvote for correct physics and almost correct thinking

I'd rather say that Awakening drains the ability of the object to absorb light. (Basically, what 'color' is) Because if it drains the light absorbed by the object, like you proposed... then it has no effect on light reflected (that's right) and it absorbs the light which is already absorbed, so it would not make the object change color.

Instead greater Invocation makes the object reflect all of the light and regular Awakening most of it.

[Oudeis he/him]

As noted above, Awakening drains pigmentation, not the light itself. If it absorbed light, no one would ever know, because at the speed of light the object would go back to looking fully normal.

[Shadeshadow227]

On 7/16/2016 at 10:11 AM, Oversleep said:

@Shadeshadow227

Upvote for correct physics and almost correct thinking

I'd rather say that Awakening drains the ability of the object to absorb light. (Basically, what 'color' is) Because if it drains the light absorbed by the object, like you proposed... then it has no effect on light reflected (that's right) and it absorbs the light which is already absorbed, so it would not make the object change color.

Instead greater Invocation makes the object reflect all of the light and regular Awakening most of it.

That...makes a lot of sense. Have an upvote. On the house.