They make use of the trichromatic model of color. Most color wheels are based on three primary colors, three secondary colors, and the six intermediates formed by mixing a primary with a secondary, known as tertiary colors, for a total of 12 main divisions some add more intermediates, for 24 named colors. Goethe, Theory of Colours Colors of the color wheel Trichromatic model are those that reciprocally evoke each other in the eye. for the colours diametrically opposed to each other. His observations on the effect of opposed colors led him to a symmetric arrangement of his color wheel anticipating Ewald Hering's opponent color theory (1872). Goethe's Theory of Colours provided the first systematic study of the physiological effects of color (1810). James Clerk Maxwell showed that all hues, and almost all colors, can be created from three primary colors such as red, green, and blue, if they are mixed in the right proportions. Thomas Young postulated that the eye contains receptors that respond to three different primary sensations, or spectra of light.

Color scientists and psychologists often use the additive primaries, red, green, and blue and often refer to their arrangement around a circle as a color circle as opposed to a color wheel. Most later color circles include the purples, however, between red and violet, and have equal-sized hue divisions. The divisions of Newton's circle are of unequal size, being based on the intervals of a Dorian musical scale. The original color circle of Isaac Newton showed only the spectral hues and was provided to illustrate a rule for the color of mixtures of lights, that these could be approximately predicted from the center of gravity of the numbers of 'rays' of each spectral color present (represented in his diagram by small circles). In his book Opticks, Isaac Newton presented a color circle to illustrate the relations between these colors. Others classify various color wheels as color disc, color chart, and color scale varieties.

For instance, some reserve the term color wheel for mechanical rotating devices, such as color tops, filter wheels or the Newton disc. Some sources use the terms color wheel and color circle interchangeably however, one term or the other may be more prevalent in certain fields or certain versions as mentioned above. Gradient RGB/ CMY color wheel Seven-color and twelve-color color circles from 1708, attributed to Claude Boutet Wilhelm von Bezold's 1874 FarbentafelĪ color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc. For other uses, see Color wheel (disambiguation).

Color wheel with primary colors