User:Alangilchrist/sandbox

Lightness is a perceptual dimension that corresponds to the physical property of reflectance, the percentage of light reflected by a surface. For achromatic colors, the lightness dimension runs from white to black, through the gray shades. But lightness is also a dimension of chromatic colors, so that pink and maroon, for example, differ in lightness. Lightness is a measure of an observer’s experience, not of light per se, but of the light-reflecting property of a surface inherent in its molecular structure. A related term, brightness, ranging from bright to dark, refers to an observer’s experience of the intensity of light emitted by a light source or reflected by a surface.