Fun facts about blue

Following up on my recent interest in color theory and because I actually delivered a speech about colors, I was left with some fun facts in my head and I want to take them out and place them somewhere. 😁

🔹Fact 1🔹

People did not use to see color blue.

They also did not have the name “blue” because you would not have a word for something that is not there 🙄. Some people argue that color blue was not named in ancient times and that’s why people did not see it, in the same way that people native to America did not see the ships of the European conquerors. This is a bit like the chicken – egg issue as you cannot name something you cannot see. 🙄 If you could not see something you do not have a name for, then how do you get to name it to see it?…

However, people did not have a name for the color blue before modern times because …

🔹Fact 2🔹

Color blue does not exist in nature, it is only a man made pigment.

To be more specific, there is no blue pigment in nature, it was invented by humans.

I am sorry to shake your beliefs, but the sky and the sea are not blue as they are made of air and water, respectively, which are both transparent. Because of extreme distance or depth, objects take in our mind’s eye the color blue. What is further from us is interpreted by our brains in colder hues and blue is the coldest. However, this is a cultural characteristic, as previously people refered to the sky as white and the sea as dark (red, green, you name it, but not blue).

“For plants, blue is achieved by mixing naturally occurring pigments, very much as an artist would mix colours. The most commonly used are the red pigments, called anthocyanins, and whose appearance can be changed by varying acidity.”

What about the eyes?

🔹 Fact 3🔹

Blue eyes are not real. 😱

Blue eyes get their color in our brain, just like the sky. So if someone sees your gorgeous blue eyes as gray they are more correct.

“Eye color depends on the amount of a single type of pigment (called melanin) in the iris of the eye. This genetic switch, located in the gene next to the OCA2 gene, limits the production of melanin in the iris — effectively “diluting” brown eyes to blue.” – allaboutvision.com

🔹 Fact 4🔹

Blue light is harmful, because it is not natural. (I do suspect that in some 1000000 years this will not matter anymore, if we make it that far…)

This is actually the reason I wrote this article, since I recently made an art work that shines blue.

“Blue light from electronic devices is not going to increase the risk of macular degeneration or harm any other part of the eye. However, the use of these devices may disrupt sleep or disturb other aspects of your health or circadian rhythm. If you are one of the large number of people who fall into this category, talk to your doctor and take steps to limit your use of devices at night, when blue light is most likely to impact your biological clock.” – harvard.edu

Ok, so this was not such a “fun” fact, but it’s helpful. 😊

Please share any other fun facts about colors you know. 😁