We see a specific color, like yellow, because only yellow ____ are bounced back to your eyes.
Wavelengths
We see a specific color, like yellow, because only yellow wavelengths of light are bounced back to our eyes. When light hits an object, it can either be absorbed by the object, transmitted through the object, or reflected off the object. The colors we perceive are determined by the wavelengths of light that are reflected.
In the case of yellow, objects that appear yellow are actually reflecting light at the specific wavelength corresponding to yellow. This means that when white light (which is a mixture of all visible wavelengths) shines on a yellow object, all the colors other than yellow are absorbed or transmitted by the object, while the yellow wavelengths are reflected back to our eyes. Our eyes then detect these reflected yellow wavelengths, which are then processed by our brain as the color yellow.
To understand why only yellow wavelengths are bounced back to our eyes, we need to know about the concept of color and light. Color is a perceptual property that our brain interprets based on the different wavelengths of light that we see. Light is made up of a spectrum of wavelengths, each corresponding to a different color. When white light is incident on an object, the object selectively absorbs certain wavelengths and reflects others. The color we perceive depends on the wavelength(s) that are reflected and reach our eyes. In the case of yellow, it is the specific wavelength(s) of yellow light that is being reflected back to our eyes, leading us to perceive the color as yellow.