What is the appearance of sunlight when all colors of light are mixed together?

Sunlight appears white when all colors of light are mixed together. This phenomenon occurs because sunlight consists of a spectrum of colors, which can be seen in a rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. When light from the sun combines, it produces a balanced mix that is perceived as white light.

When light is refracted or dispersed, such as when it passes through a prism, the individual colors become visible, demonstrating that sunlight is indeed made up of these various wavelengths. In contrast, mixing pigments or dyes typically results in darker colors due to the subtractive color mixing process, where different pigments absorb different wavelengths of light. Therefore, the presence of all colors in the light spectrum yielding white light highlights the additive nature of light.