ECHS - Blue in Nature - Chemistry - Research Guides at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

Mr. Trujillo's Assignment

When talking about the electromagnetic spectrum (ROYGBIV), not all colors are equally represented in nature. There are chemical, biological, and physics-based reasons (many times overlapping) for this phenomenon.

Topics in this extension

Why is blue so rare?
Evolutionary benefits
Evolutionary consequences
Why don’t we have more blue pigments?

IFLS

New Blue Just Dropped: Chemists Develop New Natural Blue For Food Coloring

Blue Eyes Contain No Blue Pigment. So Why Are They Blue?

First Blue Pigment Discovered In Centuries Hits The Market

Did Ancient People Really Not See The Color Blue?

Web Resources about Blue in Nature

Why is Blue so Rare in Nature
You never notice how rare blue is, until you do, and then you (don't) see it *everywhere*.
When is a blue bird not blue?
When is a blue bird not blue? The answer to this question is always.
What Makes Things Blue?
From the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, this collection examines why certain items are blue.
Why is the color blue so rare in nature?
But why is the color blue so rare? The answer stems from the chemistry and physics of how colors are produced — and how we see them.

Videos

Animals Cannot Be Blue - Nat Geo
Sometimes nature plays tricks on us. Animals use color in remarkable ways to attract mates or disguise themselves.

Why is Blue so Rare in Nature
You never notice how rare blue is, until you do, and then you (don't) see it *everywhere*.

Blue is Pretty Special: How Nature Gets the Blues
Video from SciShow.

Color Blue (4:17)
Blue is an unusual color in nature; remote areas that harbor the color reveal a clue about how Earth came into existence. Artist David Margolis works with rare colors including lapis lazuli; lapis was a status symbol during the Renaissance. A BBC Production.

Other Resources

Pinch of Pigment: Cobalt Blue
Cobalt Blue is a fascinating colour with a much longer history than many pigments in use today. It’s also the only goblin hiding in the Periodic Table.
How Safe Is Your Tattoo Ink?
Before you get that dolphin tattooed on your ankle or "Mom" on your bicep, be warned: The ink used in tattoos may be harmful -- even years later.
When Color Kills: Toxic Pigments Through the Ages
In the 18th century, who knew that color could kill? Might we look back a decade, a century, or a millennia from now, and rue what we didn’t know about the pigments in use today? Sure, green paint no longer contains arsenic… but maybe there’s another unknown toxin lurking, accumulating in its depths.
Tattoo Inks or Poison pigments?
Over the millennia, tattoos have wandered between being signs of royalty to being signs of criminality. Since Ötze's time tattoos have become more complex and colourful, with regional specialisation. Heavy metal pigments have largely been replaced by organic pigments (e.g. naphthol-AS for metal-based reds), but as there is limited regulation of tattoo inks in Australia, it is unclear if Australian inks contain substantial amounts of heavy metals.
What's In Tattoo Ink? Why Scientists Want To Know
Tattoo artists in Europe are fighting a new ban on two commonly-used green and blue pigments, saying that losing these ink ingredients would be a disaster for their industry and their art.
Prussian blue
The pigment Prussian blue consists of iron cations, cyanide anions, and water.

It’s Not Easy Being Blue: Are There Olfactory and Visual Trade-Offs in Plant Signalling?
Blue pigments are the most visually-effective – blue is a colour that is visually salient to all known seed dispersing animals within the study system. Additionally, plants with blue-reflecting fruits are less odiferous than plants that reflect primarily in other regions of the colour spectrum.
Female butterflies prefer males bearing bright iridescent ornamentation
Butterflies are among nature's most colourful animals, and provide a living showcase for how extremely bright, chromatic and iridescent coloration can be generated by complex optical mechanisms.
Master of Color
Author Amy Barth discusses why and how animals produce structural colors.
Accidental Discovery Produces Durable New Blue Pigment
An accidental discovery in a laboratory at Oregon State University has apparently solved a quest that over thousands of years has absorbed the energies of ancient Egyptians, the Han dynasty in China, Mayan cultures and more – the creation of a near-perfect blue pigment.

Anthocyanins
Some especially colorful, darkly pigmented plants (e.g., raspberries, blueberries, cranberries, elderberries, acai, black cherries, pomegranate, blood oranges, purple corn, eggplant, red cabbage, and sweet peppers) contain a high volume of anthocyanins.
cobalt, chemical element
Cobalt yellow, green, and blue are pigments of high quality that contain cobalt; another blue pigment, smalt, is made by powdering a fused mixture of cobalt oxide, potassium carbonate, and sand; these pigments are often used for coloring glass and ceramics.

Chemistry: ECHS - Blue in Nature

Mr. Trujillo's Assignment

Web Resources about Blue in Nature

Videos

Other Resources