If black is the absence of all color, how come we can "see", and identify it, as opposed to "clear"?
by 
Nulinvoid
ANSWERS: 3
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abscence of colour is abscence of light reflecting back to our eyes. black is where all colour is being absorbed into whatever medium (by medium im speaking of paint, or materials..) so since light is absorbed into it, and we don't have any of that light bouncing back to us, then we experience black. (without light bouncing off the material and into our eyes, there is no colour, no colour is black.. and even if there is light, the colour in white light is absorbed by the pigments, and all we see is black) CLEAR is a way to describe the material that permits it, it lets colour travel through it, we can idenitify black (lack of light reflecting back to your eyes therefore colour is absent which MAKES black) opposed to "colour of nothing" k, im repeating myself a lot, but i hope i got what you wanted
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I'll give this a shot and see what others think. I think the real difference between "black" and "clear" is that nothing in nature is truly "clear" except space. There are things such as air, and glass that we my call "clear", that aren't truly "clear" at all. Solid objects that appear black to us are identified as black because they are being contrasted by our brains with other surrounding colors. In truth, there is no true black color of paint, or ink, or any other material used to "color" objects. If you look closely at "black" inks, they aren't black at all, but a dark blue, or purplish color. they only look black in relation to surrounding colors. I think true "clear" and true "black" are really the same thing. Space itself would be the only thing (or "no-thing") that reflects no light at all. Does that make sense?
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Clear is the ability to allow light to pass through it. It absorbs no light, but also reflects no light. Black is something that absorbs all light. The reason we see something that is black is because we are comparing it to things surrounding it that are bouncing light back to our eyes. We can see a black pen sitting on a blue table, because there a blue portion missing in the shape of a pen. Also, very few things are truly and completely black, allowing them to bounce some light back to our eyes. If you were in a room that was completely black though, you wouldn't be able to distinguish were the walls are, or where anything else in that room is (because it would also be black).
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