The Colors of Objects – We learned that the colors of an object depend on the wavelength of the light waves it reflects. When light waves of different wavelengths interact with an object, the object absorbs some light waves and reflects others. The wavelengths of light waves absorbed and reflected depend on the materials from which the object is made. When reflected light comes in contact with your eye, the cone cells in your retina send nerve signals to your brain. The color that an object appears to be depends in part on the color of the light shining on it. Then we learned that white light is a combination of light of many different colors.