@kennethamy,
I am quite surprised by many of the down-playing posts in here that only show to represent that person/s own ignorance regarding the matter. Sadly, of course, the answer to this question can be found in nearly any 5th grade science textbook (Texas may be exempt) and it's a wonder why armchair philosophers dont actually take the time to do the research. My guess is philosophers hold 'common sense' above verifiable knowledge, but that is only a guess...
Anywho,
Light is a wavelength of electromagnetic radiation.
Color is derived from electromagnetic radiation that interacts with our eyes and cones. So does color exist when there is no light? Obviously, no it doesnt because color is derived from light. If you think you can produce color without light then by all means go perform the experiment and good luck. A Nobel would be the least of your accomplishments for that.
And what is this talk about '...color is what appears to us under normal conditions...'? What does that mean and what does that have to do with the 'true' color of an object? Under 'normal conditions' (whatever that means) we can percieve the exact same color in completely different ways. Here take a
look. Both A and B are the exact same color, and yet, it 'appears' differently. If we were to take the above definition of what colors are as what they appear to us then the visual illusion just shown would yield different results (i.e. A and B would be different colors). Or if 'normal' involved tritanopia color vision then a banana would be almost white? No.
Not to mention that a red ball is not really red
per se. It's just the reflected wavelength that the particular object doesnt absorb. So if you want to get picky we can say that the 'actual' color of an object is anything but the percieved color because that's the only color it doesnt absorb. Or if you want to say that the 'actual' color of an object is just its reflected wavelength then you would have a hard time explaining
mirrors. Either way, stop using 'common sense' and start picking up science textbooks -- it actually works.