Why Is Blue Rare?

Now widely polled as the most popular color in the world, there was a time in which there was no blue -- at least not the way we see blue now. Sure, the sky and water haven’t changed colors, but without the ability to easily create blue dye or pigments, we had no use for the word “blue.”
And it turns out that we need words to identify, think, and talk about things for them to exist in our minds. Journey with Kevin as he tells the strange story of how humans discovered the color blue, which existed right in front of them the whole time.
The deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural... The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white.
-Wassily Kandinsky
Curiosity Box: www.curiositybox.com/
Written, Produced, Edited and Hosted by Kevin Lieber
Instagram: / kevlieber
Twitter: / kevinlieber
Website: kevinlieber.com
Contributing Researcher & Editor Matthew Tabor, Koala Fight Media
koala.fm/
VFX by Eric Langlay
/ ericlanglay
Select Music by Jake Chudnow
/ jakechudnow
Special Thanks Paula Lieber
/ pixichuu
Vsauce2 Links
Twitter: / vsaucetwo
Facebook: / vsaucetwo
Website: www.Vsauce.com
*** LINKS AND SOURCES ***
The Brilliant History of Color in Art by Victoria Finlay
www.amazon.com/Brilliant-Hist...
Blue: The History Of A Color by Michel Pastoureau
www.amazon.com/Blue-History-C...
Secret Language Of Color by Joann Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut
www.amazon.com/Secret-Languag...
SPECIAL THANKS
Virginia Postrel
vpostrel.com/
www.amazon.com/Substance-Styl...
Victoria Finlay
victoriafinlay.com/
Joshua J. Mark
www.ancient.eu/user/JPryst/
Kidmograph
www.kidmograph.com/
Outro Song “I Came Back For You” by Trevor Something
trevorsomething.bandcamp.com/...
ARTICLES
Pigments Through The Ages
goo.gl/ytfGV3
goo.gl/D6nwMs
Color In Art
goo.gl/4Bu7pD
Harvard Color Vault
goo.gl/Q86ixm
goo.gl/Y43xCb
Little Snow White
goo.gl/Lsm8Xt
A Story Of Blue
goo.gl/4GsVFB
The Material History of the Color Blue
goo.gl/TT5vMS
True Blue Stands Out in an Earthy Crowd by Natalie Angier
goo.gl/wiFy7g
Why Is The Sky Blue?
goo.gl/KzoAcb
Blue Through The Centuries
goo.gl/Eh2og1
History Of Blue
goo.gl/pq5BDC
William Gladstone And The Odyssey
goo.gl/J8dDD5
No One Could See The Color Blue Until Modern Times by Kevin Loria
goo.gl/tUqph6
Why Is Blue The World’s Favorite Color?
goo.gl/GkoLyg
It’s Not Easy Being Blue (For Plants) by Eric Dillalogue
goo.gl/h763Hq
Color Wavelengths
goo.gl/3D67Lw
The Science Of Blue Flowers
goo.gl/N74ySm
First Blue-Eyed Human
goo.gl/B5gYsw
Humanity’s Favorite Color
goo.gl/Kzef6s
Color In Market Research
goo.gl/TsaMcs
What’s Your Favorite Color?
goo.gl/eEJW9K
Islamic Poetry
goo.gl/zAEYMm
Starry Night, Edvard Munch
goo.gl/HVsZ24
goo.gl/9Tyjpt
Newton And The Color Spectrum
goo.gl/Hg5omA
Blue And Green Language Distinctions
goo.gl/aCk9NQ
Rainbows In Art
goo.gl/AXwkCD
True Origin Of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
goo.gl/QrYZuB
STUDIES
Russian Blues Reveal Effects Of Language On Color Discrimination
goo.gl/CQHWHn
Ancient Color Categories
goo.gl/EQgLE4
Philip Cohen
goo.gl/f77dzZ
Scott Design Inc. Color Poll
goo.gl/dHGt6p
ASSETS
Namakura Gatana 1917 restoration by sumerias1
goo.gl/uBFKro
Egyptian Blue Eye at The J. Paul Getty Museum
goo.gl/KvC6N1
Indigo by Shisha-Tom
goo.gl/zmekJX
Archaemenid Bowl from David Aaron
goo.gl/9ZzXVX
Lapis Lazuli Eyes photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen
goo.gl/rTCJj8
Lapis Lazuli Buddha
goo.gl/uUYpfw
goo.gl/zopx9g
goo.gl/yxiYpo
CSIC
goo.gl/TX7P3r
Indus Valley Diorama by Biswarup Ganguly
goo.gl/GzS4U6
Rainbows
goo.gl/w8LFVk
goo.gl/mf5Dce
Denim by Nikodem Nijaki
goo.gl/jBqbsH
Blue Cat The British Museum
goo.gl/N8pwiW
Woad by H. Zell
goo.gl/mXuryL
Lazurite by Didier Descouens
goo.gl/RLQd3w
Cochineal by Dick Culbert
goo.gl/ejkzc3
Cochineal by H. Zell
goo.gl/Whkh8x
Portrait of Edvard Munch from National Library of Norway
goo.gl/DBUoz6
goo.gl/GQAJF8
Tekhelet by Mnavon
goo.gl/eY94C6
Pixabay
pixabay.com/

[@Vsauce2]

Welcome. You found Blue.

[@David-qv9yy]

Vsauce2 Do a collab with V Sauce 1 and 3.

[@eshwarkumar8138]

Dave They are all friends idiot

[@zatim6184]

thanks for inviting us

[@whatislife4053]

BlUe'S cLuEs

[@FirstNameLastName-gq4tb]

Some of y'all legit turn on notifications to come here asap and dislike smh

[@ADMADDEM]

Bruh, lapiz lazuli isn't even that hard to get. Just break one ore and you have enough for enchanting like 20 items.

[@ectotide]

but in the game it is only 1.1x more common than diamonds

[@ADMADDEM]

@@ectotide They had diamonds back then. And what game? I'm talking about ancient humans.

[@ectotide]

Soz I was talking about Minecraft

[@evaahh9584]

Redstoneuplands ... you realise he’s joking right? r/woooosh? Or am I being r/woooshed?... R/WOOSHCEPTION

[@idot3331]

He talks about enchanting items. And you just accept that he was talking about ancient humans. No questions asked.

[@Bigfoot_With_Internet_Access]

Y'all ever just like, invent a color

[@turtles8930]

Just Some Bigfoot With Internet Access hey I know you. You're related to yeti right?

[@DadBodDrumming]

I invented the color Rahn but you won't hear about it for another 500 years.

[@151TheMew]

@@DadBodDrumming im going to hold you to that

[@radioactiveseaotter]

Yeah, gilit is my favorite colour

[@deemcgann1695]

Umm... magenta

[@kalilinux5217]

I'm colorblind and I got to say that this video really fcked me up

[@spartanwar1185]

oof feelsbadman

[@josephanderson6629]

:(

[@danchastain1585]

lmao

[@yakijacob]

OH NO

[@syarifudinmusthofa347]

Me too.. I have protanopia.. So, I can only see blue, correctly.. The other color was false according to other's eye

[@B0ssguy]

3000 years later: VSauce 73957, Glibpok here. Thousands of years ago, the color teek didn’t exist. This is how

[@andya.6630]

4000 years later: ΞSauce, A86 here. Thousands of years ago, the color Ultraviolet wasn’t visible to humans

[@cubicardi8011]

@@andya.6630 One month later: Due to Article 13, this Video is unavailable in your country.

[@andya.6630]

Cubi Cardi ΞSauce, A86 here. Thousands of years ago, there existed an article known as Article 13.

[@DielsonSales]

Year *Million One*: for the most part of history, humans could only understand things they could separate and name it.

[@vinzo0913]

@Hailey Tecca I imagine it's the colour of grey tarpaulin

[@lylef.11]

This makes me wonder what else we may be missing in our perception today.

[@paro5614]

i literally thought about it as i read this comment...i can't wait to see what we missed for all those millenias

[@alexanderjoseph5380]

Well most people today just see cyan as a shade of blue and magenta as a shade of red, when they're actually distinct colors.

[@Havron]

@@alexanderjoseph5380 Indeed. I grew up during the CGA/EGA days of computers, and became very acutely aware of the existence of cyan and magenta as distinct colors. It's weird to me how few people are even familiar with these colors. To me they are as distinct as green, blue, violet, or red.

[@dubbleyou248]

@@Havron Dont forget light green (closer to yellow) and dark green (closer to blue) like not necessarily just in terms of light and dark, but if you look at the types of colours in something like a word doc or something light green also seems like a separate colour

[@ailynn14]

@@dubbleyou248 you mean lime?

[@arsitayyab2208]

Everyone asks where is blue and yet none bothers to ask "How is Blue?" #SocietyWeLiveIn

[@indigoflamingo4366]

I'll do you one better. Why is blue?

[@amaljay8158]

@@indigoflamingo4366 damn I'm 4 hours late

[@metajarra]

@@indigoflamingo4366 When is blue?

[@nadian848]

@@indigoflamingo4366 what is blue?

[@andya.6630]

I ‘ L L D O Y O U O N E B E T T E R

Yeah red white and black. Would be a good flag probably

[@eeshsinger]

Porçay reverse black and red you get the german empire

[@lucatraverso3495]

*Middle East joins the chat*

[@legoleviathan6411]

Yemen has that flag 🇾🇪

[@legoleviathan6411]

But Syria 🇸🇾 and Iraq 🇮🇶 are close

[@noozzoo5152]

Antifa flag is eerily similar to the N@zi flag

[@mad_augustk]

Also, in Kazakh we don't usually use the word "green". For example, we don't say "a green apple", we say "a blue apple", we don't say "a green grass", we say "a blue grass". Sorry for my English P.s. it's amazing video, Kevin, thanks!

[@gunjfur8633]

madina no English speekers do see the difference between "light blue" & "dark blue". I myself (as a finnish speaker) dont see the point of giving a lighter shade of a color its own name, In finland we just call "pink", "light red" (vaalean punainen).

[@BothHands1]

Same goes for many languages, like Japanese, where blue was the original word, and green was invented later. Makes me wonder if maybe Kevin got it backwards, and this video should be called "The invention of GREEN"

[@mad_augustk]

Gunja Fury I didn't mean it, i wanted to say that it's just cool how different languages could be and at the same time have very much in common

[@Fwacer]

Danielle Spargo One of tbe other comments on this video says that thr japanese word "aoi" was the word for green/blue, which became the word for blue when blue became popular, and they made a new word for green

[@DiveTheseClips]

As a russian i always thought it's quite strange to give two different names to these colors. I just call them "blue" and "light blue".

[@iSalameee]

My god, how much research you put into your videos in order to bring us what we think just a good informational 15 min video. But you do your homework on every one.. Nicely done once again Kevin! Nicely done.

[@Andrews13channel]

☤ṧαʟαღℯ☤ The best part is, it feels even longer than 15 minutes. Most 15 minutes videos I see go by quickly in retrospect, but Vsauce has almost a magic to it, makes time go by slower so you can enjoy it

[@JPQFilms]

☤ṧαʟαღℯ☤ the thing so like about him is that it's not busy work to him. He loves it. Go Vsauce!!!

[@misandrist]

what language did he get wrong? He got my native language correct (obviously mispronounced but that's because he doesn't speak it).

[@SulaTennakoon]

This is the content we live for

[@Vsauce2]

I read everything you see in the description of the video and much more for research. I also personally spoke with a few scholars to verify the information. I'm glad you love the video - thank you so much for watching!

[@valshaped]

I always thought the sky was blue because it wasn't green. Turns out, the sky *was* green.

[@psispi]

Dir 66u9kjh 0

[@JustAlex614]

*Person dies Vsauce2 : or did he

[@smithmcsmithy2645]

*Jeffrey Epstein kills himself Vsauce2 : or did he?

[@Droller]

The person died right? *WRONG!!*

[@jonasphilbert6175]

Roses are red, The invention of blue. All I want to watch is Vsauce2.

[@azmanabdula]

see you in 6 months

[@captainobvious9201]

Roses are red, Man eats poo, where is my super suit?

[@serv1894]

Fillipuster :D awesome

[@namaske2594]

That profile picture is amazing

[@teamcyeborg]

My question isn't "why is the sky blue", I know that answer. My question is, "Why isn't the sky purple?"

[@mbuhplus7800]

Scattering. Actually the sky can be purple at a time when the size of the particle match for the requirement of mie scattering resulting red mixed with blue and usually happens on slightly cloudy sunset.

[@xero-swati4910]

Density of air makes it appear blue, since only blue light's wavelength can escape from it, if it was little lighter sky would appear purple or sth like that

[@martinkuliza]

it isn't purple BECAUSE IT'S BLUE does that help ?

[@mrnat3058]

What are you talking about, haven't you played Plazma burst 2?

[@xsorroweaverx1777]

it is purple and black and red actually every know color except blue - so no you dont know why the sky is blue neither does vsauce - but good story thought

[@SGxShadow]

I thought PURPLE was the color of royalty/wealth from that time period.

[@julixpinguimon8023]

Im pretty sure it actually was

[@durdleduc8520]

I believe they both were. They were both rare pigments that remained unnamed for a while. Purple may be more associated with royalty now, but they both shared that connotation for a large portion of history

[@noahfinney4899]

I believe it was indigo because the indigo plant would create dye that never faded from clothing.

[@rulebritania5391]

Google it is is

[@alberteinsteinscousin5966]

Royal blue

[@theresahemminger1587]

Interesting side note: homer’s “wine-dark sea’ has been puzzled over for ages because, even if it isn’t “blue” , the sea is not the color of wine either. I recently read a classicist who says it means a “drunken” or rough sea. A scientist didn’t teach his child a name for blue. When he later pointed at the blue sky and asked what color it was, she said there was no color. In the animal world, there is (so far) only one creature found with a blue pigment and it is a very rare butterfly. All other blues in land dwellers is due to Raleigh scattering like the sky with reflectors and absorbers built in to reflect only blue. I wonder if our brain responds differently to pigment vs Raleigh scattering. It seems an odd coincidence.

[@nikitasafronov9700]

even that butterfly isn't blue, it's wings' surface reflecting the light certain way due to the structure so it looks blue. Lexus used the same method to paint one of their concept cars. So even there's no blue pigment

[@James2210]

​@@nikitasafronov9700That butterfly is blue. All the others have Raleigh scattering. Nessaea obrinus

[@Centzzzz]

"..... and that's how crabs walks sideways"

[@ReturnToSender1313]

Bon would be proud

[@RossTheNinja]

Orange didn't exist until it was named after the fruit.

[@stevee5]

Wrong .common myth .

[@darkvoid8512]

@@stevee5 its right

[@cannedfrogg8471]

Actually, orange was originally the name of the tree, then it became the name of the fruit and then the fruit gave name to the color.

[@factopolis7752]

This would make my entire night

[@watercolourmark]

I think you will find orange always existed, just that we never named it till a time.

[@kidedaionsymoti4036]

The year is 2035. I'm in my kitchen, making a broth from food scraps. My kid is playing with the dog when he makes a quiet confusion sound. "You said anything?" I ask, as I put away the things that we will take later to the compost bin. They look up at me, with a roaring curiosity in their eyes. Oh, it's that age, wanting to know everything, to understand what makes things tick. I hope that hunger for answers never leaves them. "Momma... why is the sky blue?" I shiver in my own skin. Why do I feel so on edge, suddenly? I feel their eyes on me, like they could make holes into my skull. Is this a test? It does feel like an important moment. I can imagine the situation, red pill or blue pill? Right or left? Adventure or domesticity? Cats or dogs? Elope or wait? It's like the whole universe stopped spinning and turned to look at us, like we are the only beings that matter. I can't hear the TV saying how now the list of endangered species dropped by 46%. I can't see our beautifull garden with ripe tomatoes a few meters away. It's just us. "Because we found blue" I reply softly. They nod, like they understand, and the world goes back to it's normal state. I know they don't actually understand, but I'm certain that I said the right thing. They'll eventually learn about wave lengths and the atmosphere, but this was not the moment for it. They needed to know the other half. We did it, after all. We found blue.

[@erceyorukoglu146]

Ok...

[@sienab559]

ok... boomer

[@Jean2DaBean]

That's beautiful.

[@ProGamer-xd2ix]

Yeah, we found blue... OR DID WE?

[@kevbri11]

Ok..

[@sthede1000]

Fun fact, in the late 80s and early 90s, LED lights were popping up everywhere, you know the red led light on your stereo, or even the slightly cooler looking green led lights that started showing up... but if you recall that era, there were nearly zero blue led lights. A company I was friends with came out with a new hardware product, and they wanted to really astound people, so they used blue led lights on the front of their case, this was in the early 90s. And it worked, but those led lights were something like 15 times more expensive than red or green. I guess making blue led lights was a major PITA, and it showed, by how rare and expensive they were. Of course today, we don't even think about it, in fact, I believe my daughters have about 200 of them ringing the ceilings of their rooms, with led lights that can show any color. That 'blue' me away. Ok, ill stop.

[@RGC_animation]

Veritasium finally made a video on Blue LED, and it was a legendary video, probably the best video on LED ever.

[@delayed_control]

The Polish word for blue (niebieski) means literally "skyish"

[@Itoyokofan]

Russian name for light blue, mentioned in the video, "goluboi" means pigeon(feathers)-colour. There's even a vibrant light blue shade called "sky-pigeon" or "nebesno-goluboi".

[@rahrvethrose5165]

@@Itoyokofan actually Polish has it's own word for light blue too, which is called "błękitny" or "błękit", while normal blue is called "niebieski" (from the word "niebo" which means "sky")

[@rahrvethrose5165]

@@Itoyokofan oh there's also a word "siny" from "siniak" which means "bruise" in english ("siniak" means "bruise", "siny" means "the colour of bruise")

[@mareoio4141]

ayyy Poland

[@martinkuliza]

IN SERBIAN the word for SKY is Nebo Heaven is Nebes BLUE is Plavo but if we had to say skyish, YES we would say NEBESKI

[@nathanfay1988]

This is one of the best VSauce videos ever made

[@hediderjedi]

I think the best Video on VSAUCE2

[@Minisablab]

Where are your fingers

[@lizbarber4151]

Minisablab lmao

[@imasiontist653]

Minisablab Want some spit facts!?

[@RecklessRon]

totally agree

[@FaizCaliph]

Those bowls of colors with the corresponding brushes are so satisfying to look at

[@BlueKeyAnimations]

"Blue, the most human color." - Regina Spektor - Blue Lips

[@JasonandaCamera]

0:49 when you ask for a raise

[@biscuitladd7979]

When your parents tell you to go to bed early

[@frostbitetheannunakiiceind6574]

Jason and a Camera xd

[@tylermustardloooser386]

When you see a vegan

[@workhardism]

When a Democrat asks for your vote.

[@sillygoose635]

When a Conservative tells you to vote for trump.

[@StainlessForks]

This really *BLUE* my mind.

[@JohnAlenProductions]

Ba dum sh

[@modle4108]

blew*

[@JuniorMaffews]

Not original.

[@rakuyo6585]

@@JuniorMaffews no, it is original.

[@mackle6136]

modle r/wooooosh

[@Bio_genese]

Really interesting, good flow and variety of information, from history to art and science. loved it

[@andya.6630]

“Green and blue were one word” I know a little bit of Chinese and I go to classes, can confirm that there is indeed a word that means both blue and green, and even black. One word. Sure, there are other more specific ones. This is just an example that’s relevant.

[@eue155]

Before 10 likes

[@hemkito]

That's awesome. I lived in China for 10 years but I never understood why 青色, the historically more common word for describing the sky or water in their most pristine forms, was neither blue or green but rather both. This makes sense. Languages which have remained unchanged since before the major discoveries of blue dye wouldn't have specific words for the blue we have. But European cultures which were more influenced by the discovery of lapis lazuli and Prussian Blue dye and have been more prone to changes in linguistic structure, would naturally have accommodated the word more readily. Mind blown

[@alex73217]

Yeah. At least now they have a word for blue even though they don't really use it for the sky

[@NotAPerson_]

At least there is a word called 藍 (Blue in Chinese)

[@snowman7514]

yo its 青 not 情, 情色 means lewd

[@tsepodladla8963]

In South African languages Zulu or Swati which are closely related we don't have a word for blue but rather call it "umbala oluhlaza/oluhlata okwesibhakabhaka" which directly translates to the colour that's as green as the sky. So learning that many cultures have something similar really does blow my mind too bro.

[@user-eq2tp1gz1r]

thanks for the explanation but err it’s 青色, no 忄(for easy memorising, words with the shuxinpang radical have matters to do with the heart)

[@joaum2009]

Amazing amount of research and information just in one video. I'm impressed, good job.

[@mya4949]

They do that in every video. :)

[@memoona6397]

exactly

[@gavinwoodard9178]

A looot of it seems straight up ripped from an old Radiolab episode

[@flyingnematode]

love that episode

[@helpicantgetoffofyoutube]

Really instructing about the creation of signs. And Kevin is such a storyteller. Love it.

[@sophistre]

Videos and channels like these honestly sort of restore my faith in humanity...idk. Fascination with/appreciation of this weird little ball of dirt we're on isn't just contagious, or interesting for its own sake, it's also this really uncomplicated common bond between us, too. Most of us can remember, even just a little bit, what it was like to be a little kid with big questions about small things. Being around that excitement and enthusiasm is sort of a nice reminder of something most of us share that's fundamentally good, and these days I need a lot more of that in my life. tl,dr: I wish I'd found these channels sooner. You guys are great. Thanks for the rad content.

[@dagothur2668]

Usually I don’t fully understand vsause videos, but this one I especially don’t understand being colourblind :)

[@Czesnek]

Which type of colorblindness do you have?

[@igniii3348]

infinity colorblind

[@moistrophile9663]

I will explain blue sky to you goat. Blue is the color of the sky and the ocean. Blue represents cold temperatures and the emotion of sadness.

[@LaurensHouweling]

:(

[@BigFearedBalloon]

If I remember correctly Blue looks similar to Brown.

[@jacksonpriest2033]

Bob Ross used Prussian blue. I guess you could say that the painter who made it made a.... happy little accident.....

[@_untitld7174]

not before beating the devil out of his brush first. Only God knows what color he would've made if satan was in his brush

[@williamsledge3151]

Wow just wow

[@Enny_Gima]

He used pthalo blue much more often

[@daltonmiller5590]

I bet you were a happy little accident

[@jeremiahlyleseditor437]

This was really good Kevin

[@tomaaron6187]

Thanks! I’m in the sciences and we can apply the broader concept to much of our perception of reality. And at a cultural level the same applies to the elements of sound in music. Not all societies distinguish the differences between distinct sound frequencies… nor blue as a distinct frequency of light radiation.

[@martiddy]

How can blue be real if our eyes aren't real?

[@TheAstrolabe]

Vapor Wave - sama the third one

[@EQuivalentTube2]

/music plays

[@Proximate1]

Cue X Files theme song

[@vladimirmaksimovic4672]

Because our eyes are real

[@rockrollinnolan8521]

But how can anything be real if we are just a computer simulation run by aliens?

[@Frosty14748]

This video blue me away!

[@ramz7609]

Frosty14748 your profile picture is blue dabba dee dabba dye

[@suicideassassin6963]

Frosty14748 clapclap

[@dragon-tamer7956]

Frosty14748 I see what you did there.

[@753238]

Blue Job Oh Sh

[@medicmerk]

I just RED your comment :)

[@richarddeese1991]

Thanks for the video! I've always preferred the lazaward end of the color spectrum. This is a fascinating subject, along with humans learning to draw/paint in perspective. I really like these types of videos - keep up the good work! tavi. ｲﾑ√ﾉ.

[@fuse9713]

HIT THAT LIKE BUTTON AND DISCOVER BLUE *please kill me*

[@someguy8121]

[Coughs] the blue diamond sword?

[@saiejagar6734]

Why

[@thesotegamer3164]

one of the 3 primary colours wasnt even a colour?

[@Morphimus]

Which one?

[@Quoa]

There are only 2 genders

[@Morphimus]

Octa Deca No one asked you. Go away please.

[@RifqiPriyo]

Maybe the RGB (red, green, blue) color code.

[@four8164]

Black

[@Junglebellzzz]

Goluboy = Lightblue Siniy = Blue Ultramarine = Warhammer 40k

[@felixfox4784]

tonko, ochen tonko

[@mandickthetittysmithy5117]

You mean Ultra Smurfs.

[@vocalshogun4662]

HOW DO THEY KEEP ON SUCCEEDING

[@EmpireTVDragon]

@@felixfox4784 ты голубой

[@franklinjeffery2416]

I do like how Citadel have like 20 blues too

[@datastorm75]

Neat! Similar video covering brown, really made me think about things. Thank you and thanks to Technology Connections.

[@jamesn5595]

As i age through my 50's i'm losing my ability to differentiate between shades of light blues and greys. I also have noticed i'm liking darker shades of green for the first time in my life. Weird.

[@d_wang9836]

Every time a Vsauce video ends, I get blue balls

[@glockel4308]

[Yoshikage_Kira] you are EVERYWHERE

[@johnx140]

I JUST SAW YOU IN A BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA VIDEO YESTERDAY!!! o.o

[@johnx140]

Also,Killer Queen has already touched that blue color...

[@mmunier947]

i just do what i always do when i see you Killer Queens Sheer heart attack has no weaknesses!

[@d_wang9836]

Which one?

[@kyanos-asteras]

In Greece there's a way wider range of names for these colors. Just like the russian голубои, we too have a different word for the "light blue", which is slightly closer to green, "γαλάζιο" (galazio). And if speaking scientifically, in our books, there are seven distinct colors in the visible spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, CYAN, BLUE and violet. The galazio is between cyan and blue (which I think now they're starting to be considered as the same color in most sources, jeez!). We don't say that the sky is blue, but we say the sky is galazio. I'm most surprised by the lack of distinct words our ancestors used to have about the colors. But, either way, like Michael says, "Color, is an ILLUSION."

[@arachnophilia427]

rather ironically to the video, your name actually contains a word that homer uses to describe blue.

[@edwinsuijkerbuijk5106]

In another pice I read about blue missing, they talked about some ancient greeks describing the sky as copper. where the sin was shiny copper and the rest just copper, it was speculated the sun was seen as the metal and the rest of the sky described at the same color copper oxide. So I wonder how you would discribe the color of copper oxide. Would it be a good fit for your collor galazio, as it has been discribed as both blue and green in other cultures.

[@Eto_Kusay]

there is seven colors in spectrum in russia as well. Красный (red) Оранжевый (orange) Жёлтый (yellow) Зелёный (green) Голубой (light blue) Синий (blue) Фиолетовый (violet)

[@Hercho22]

In spanish, we have different word to say blue and light blue too, "celeste" is light blue.

[@user-xb8bk1hd8s]

Is 'celeste' is commonly used word as Russian голубой? Or more like poetic azure in English?

[@paulschlacter2685]

Your best video! Phenomenal, Well done

[@medusa5472]

I watched this video so many times. Never ceases to amaze me.

[@PowahSlapEntertainmint]

YO LISTEN UP HERE'S THE STORY ABOUT A LITTLE COLOR THAT WAS INVENTED.

[@glorytoarstotzka3605]

PowahSlap Entertainmint Why are you everywhere.

[@kyungsoonation6189]

YOU. ARE. EVERYWHERE.

[@bagandtag4391]

oh hi mark

[@Bax365]

PowahSlap Ent

[@Daan87423]

da ba dee da ba daa

[@jasonstraus223]

your pronounciation of techelet was absolutely stellar

[@zyaicob]

I'm moist

[@TheBcoolGuy]

Too stellar... ;P

[@super__banana]

Its תכלת and it means light blue nothing more nothing less. I'm from Israel btw

[@kidedaionsymoti4036]

It was?

[@JKKKK15]

0:00-0:46 your chair went from blue to a light blue or teal...

[@solli2330]

The container with the blue paint in it did, too

[@ParisAlexandros]

They.. Took out the blue light, making everything blue actually grey

[@tylerlopez695]

I love when he just sits there like “you really blue it”😂

[@sourcedrop7624]

It's funny how our definitions can change our entire worldview. I wonder what we're doing today that people 1000 years from now will think we were very closed-minded about?

[@trumpwasmyfrienduntilhesto2204]

This guy tells it like it is huh.

[@guigoGOGO]

Emperor TGP made me giggle

[@DiveTheseClips]

They'll think "why would those cavemen use anything other than HEX-codes?"

[@makouras]

Nations states, probably. And hopefully wars.

[@ChordsBoy]

I would think the majority of arguments on the internet would definitely be viewed as close-minded in 1000 years, but hopefully in the next hundred years we abandon our absolute lack of logic during those moments and learn to get along :D I know that someone pessimistic is going to be telling me how that'll never happen, and you would be right as long as there are argumentative people in the first place : /

[@CaptNSquared]

11:02 The Sun is my favorite planet, closely followed by the Moon

[@michele8491]

"ancient greek belief"

[@moffboffjoe]

the sun is my city

[@cwjakesteel]

Back then, the planets or luminaries, were the 7 brightest objects in the sky, i.e. the sun and moon, and 5 stars which turned out to be actual planets. It's just words.

[@minidwarfdude9230]

N Squared I like Trappist-1F

[@elatu]

cwjakesteel actually they were called planets (meaning wanderers or vagabonds) because they were the only objects in the sky which did not follow the same path as all the others stars due to the sheer distance of them.

[@Bolt99K]

I think about this video from time to time. It seriously changed the way I viewed colors, like its amazing looking up at the sky and considering that most of history we didn’t have a word for that color?

[@maximus5668]

Ufff what an overlwhelmingly amazing video! Finding this video was like finding the existence of blue!

[@joneslaakso]

Ok. Next video about number 4 please?

[@ivanvuksanovic1664]

joneslaakso yes please

[@tylerjb1017]

Number 4?

[@CANControlGRAFFITI]

joneslaakso the Indians know ALL about it.

[@dylath2304]

I desire an explanation on why if thou may give it

[@JM-us3fr]

Screw 4! It's the first composite, perfect power, and the last degree for a polynomial that has a formula. Now 5,009,981 is a different story. A true rebel that one

[@NinjaBearFilms]

Crazy point of note. Go to Japan and the stop lights are ❤️💛💚 But then you spend enough time teaching in schools, you notice that they draw stop lights as ❤️💛💙 They see it as blue instead of green to go. After hearing this long enough, your brain will make a switch and you'll start seeing the green light as a blue light.

[@thomaspayne6866]

NinjaBearFilms What the hell

[@NinjaBearFilms]

Angelo True story. Happened to both me and my wife and most people we met while living in Asia.

[@jonharrison]

Korean also has the same predicament in the language as Japanese has due to the Chinese roots.

[@ganaraminukshuk0]

Actually already knew about Japanese traffic lights depicting the green light as blue; must be a leftover from when the word for blue wasn't invented or widespread yet.

[@cillamoke]

NinjaBearFilms wow! That's trippy

[@cerulean22b69]

9:25 that pun is wonderful!

[@bruno13532]

I still find to this day your best video. Not only touchy, i came to realize in my Law studies, that it this video's content is intrinsically connected to linguistics which is the source of communication, and furthermore, of the creation of sets of commands and rules that defines one National State's Laws.

[@aqrasil6985]

3:33 am i crazy or a lake inside the kingdowm IS infact blue in color?

[@dappermcstache521]

I see it too... I think it might've been the ink bleeding a bit into the paper, or it mixing with the green dye.. but even if the mapmaker saw it, I doubt he would've assumed it was anything other than a light black..

[@Bigball_Bill]

Those things aren't mutually exclusive.

[@yavorkaludov3661]

he knows... seize him!!!

[@Name-ul8es]

This video was a colorful experience.

[@richardhenrywhitehurst3793]

Julian Jaynes discusses this same topic with a few variations in his 1976 book 'The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.' Thank you for this informative presentation.

[@annsidbrant7616]

As a devout lover of the color blue, I sincerely thank you for this video.

[@quentin9317]

Same!

[@carlthellama9664]

Blue man group!!!!

[@MrRyanMcCall]

Carl Potato Saw them live at universal studios and they blue my mind 😉

[@stefanvermeer3209]

Ryan McCall i see what you did there

[@pgtmr2713]

Does that include Tobias Fuenke or not? It's tough to tell since he blue himself.

[@MrRyanMcCall]

PGTMR2 I'll go back and look through the photos I got with them, I even got a big old slap of blue paint across my face courtesy of one of them :D

[@hardlineamerican8495]

What is more rare in nature, blue or purple?

[@ifyouoralovedonehasmesothe1805]

not sure about rarity in nature but purple was considered highly valuable way back then in human civilization because of its difficulty to produce from the color of some type of snail lol

[@arcadicus_ezevius]

was it a snail from some kind of island? was it crete? lol i watched a video about that...

[@Maf980]

Dude we all saw the same video and we all dont remember it

[@arcadicus_ezevius]

hahaha

[@ryanharrison1472]

your intelligence

[@kiancuratolo903]

The invention of Series is one of my favorite pieces of human culture full stop.

[@waving_rain]

You know there's this one Light Novel called Death March Rhapsody. And in the story special objects such as "holy" tools are easily spotted because they emit Blue. I wonder why the author would choose blue of all colors, but now I wonder if he knew about blues history as told here.

[@unfathomable5245]

Kevin: I'm shining Me: yes you are Kevin, yes you are

[@FunnyQuackers]

When you realize you and Kevin share a common ancestor Anyone else out there who shares the blue eyes common ancestor?

[@tsun8267]

Blue eyes having a common ancestor isnt a fact since European neanderthals had light colored eyes we dont know if genes for blue eyes was thanks to only one individual

[@ivanvuksanovic1664]

Me

[@jangambler9998]

The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

[@PM-vs3rh]

Funny Quackers we all share a common ancestor.

[@azmanabdula]

All living creatures on earth have a common ancestor.... We dont even look after our close relatives : S (Relatively....speaking)

[@seanacameron8940]

Wonderful. Superb. Delightful. Thank you for so clearly explaining the history of our Blue. Can there be a finer colour? Best S.

[@ALessandrone]

Kevin, this video is really mindblowing, it's like a beautiful song that you come back to time and time again and it makes you feel feelings everytime. Thanks a bunch!

[@miguelalvesmacedo]

I am so thankful for this video, good to stumble in good stuff like that on youtube, just subscribed

[@WordUnheard]

This video just blue my mind!

[@nce-outcry1481]

Word Unheard blue is my city

[@minidwarfdude9230]

Bleu*

[@cheeseburger6001]

dude same here buddy

[@jawsdawnson504]

mini dwarfdude What?

[@CristopherGore]

Word Unheard LMAO you killed me dude that was so bad

[@dcterr1]

Wow, fascinating video! Amazing how much we now take blue for granted, considering that ancient cultures didn't even recognize it as a color! By the way, recently I watched another fascinating video about the color brown - a color we invented that in a sense doesn't really exist! Pretty amazing how just naming a color has such a profound influence on how we perceive them.

[@fernandaabreu5625]

Well that doesn't sound right... I mean, wood is brown. Isn't it?

[@dcterr1]

@@fernandaabreu5625 Brown exists, it's just not a color in the same sense as most other colors, because it's not a color of light. Brown is in fact a dark shade of orange. I watched a very good KZbin video on this recently. If I can find the link I'll post it.

[@Glitch777]

Ironically, I was drinking water from a blue container

[@tylocke709]

These videos are getting better and better made. Very well done!

[@dianethedinosaur3228]

The amount of research for this one video is so impressive! Awesome video as always. We appreciate everyone's hard work for all these videos.

[@charcolew]

The colour purple is also interesting, some languages have no word for purple but use mauve, lilac or violet to denote lighter or darker shades of what we now call purple. And historically purple was even rarer than blue in nature and was generally reserved for emperors, kings and the like. It was only in the 19th century when an English chemist called Perkin perfected the first aniline dye of the colour mauve that it became popular and widely used.

[@camspks]

🎉🎉 absolutely fascinating. THANK YOU. More please 👍👍

[@MJ-vr5xs]

This is a magnificent, scientific and artistic video, put together. You've outdone yourself Kevin. From the presentation to the visuals, it's simply, as marvelous as the blue marble.

[@CainCalifornia]

I'm blue dabadedabadi

[@overknight5278]

Cainyoyo lmao ayyeee

[@zaps01]

it's actually dabadeedabadaa

[@g34r739f]

Cainyoyo , how high are you

[@Ariel-iw5nx]

Vsauce: 0:41 no blue Me:but what about the sky?

[@Alexandre-nh3ei]

exactly! btw we are quite late here xD

[@meidoinhebun2220]

kevin: removes blue also kevin: keeps blue light

[@spoopy3963]

How does making blueprints blue eliminate the need to hand copy?

[@MrDuckFIN]

I'm late by a couple of months already, but blueprints could be easily copied using chemicals and photoreaction while hand copies needed to be redrawn.

[@iclaimthisname9767]

3:30 I get what you're trying to say here but using old maps to 'prove' that they didn't think of water as something blue back then, isn't great. They didn't have many blue paints (those that they did have were very expensive and since maps were in high-demand they wanted them to be relatively cheap to make) and, as you said, blue was pretty rare back then

[@TheDrownedEarth]

Blue pigments also faded quite easily until the invention of Prussian Blue. Most of the maps shown would originally have appeared blue/turqoise. There's a lot of sketchy history and fact bending to prove a pre-determined (and incorrect) point in this video.

[@jiminsblessedpants530]

yeah I agree with you, although water is not blue or green, but just the reflection of whatever is above it

[@DANGJOS]

@@jiminsblessedpants530 Water is actually a natural blue color.

[@Jared7873]

I'd also add that artists who made these rainbows from ancient paintings weren't looking at a real rainbow, as the red should be on top unless it was a double rainbow, where the extra one has flipped colors. They made up a lot of stuff when they didn't know. Intestines, for example, are not a spiral (as in one medieval text.)

[@ritaneremijastrial7167]

@@DANGJOS Water may appear blue because it reflects the color of the sky... But it is transparent by its nature

[@roeesadan8862]

as a hebrew speaker we have a word for both blue ( Cah'ol כחול) and light blue (Tekhelet תכלת) which is only for light blue and not violet which is סגול (Sagol) so as much as I love your videos I think you need to know there is some misinformation in your video edit: after farther research I must say that I was wrong althogh it is true that Tekhelet in todays hebrew is meant as just light blue in ancient time and technically still today its definition is: "צבע התכלת בעת העתיקה כלל בתוכו מגוון צבעים בין ירוק וכחול ועד לצבע שחור. as Rabi Meir said:מה נשתנה תכלת מכל מיני צבעונין? מפני שתכלת דומה לים - ים דומה לרקיע - הרקיע דומה לכיסא הכבוד וכיסא הכבוד דומה לאבן הספיר". התכלת גם מסמלת את שבט יהודה בשבטי ישראל which translates to: what is the difference of tekhelet from all the colors, for Tekhelet is like the sea, sea is like the heavens (sky), the heavens like the throne of honor and the throne of honor like the sapphire that symbolises the tribe of Jehoda of the tribe of Israel" till now the writing tells us that tekehelet is blue as the sky but then as much as I thought I was right after I already posted the comment I went and checked and low an behold I was wrong Tekehelet was in the ancient times did refer to and I qwote: "צבע התכלת בעת העתיקה כלל בתוכו מגוון צבעים בין ירוק וכחול ועד לצבע שחור" "tekhelet in the ancient times included in the term a spectrum of colors from green and blue and all the way to black" (it later says it includes argaman that is pretty close to violet so I think violet counts too) so let it be a lesson as much as you may think you are right even if you are 100% sure, never be full of yourself or like me you may still find yourself wrong and maybe luck would not be as favorable to you for I found my mistake quickly enough myself before anyone could see my post and think less of the one who actually made real research and composed such a well presented video. I wish well to anyone who reads this and hope they would learn from my mistake

[@annsidbrant7616]

Blue is my favorite color - I mean REALLY REALLY my hands down favorite color, as long as it isn't de-blued by making it too dark or too green or too gray or even brownish. Anyway, I love the color blue, and I thank you very much for this video!

[@CWelton6]

Love your topics and quality of content!

[@ThePimp4dawin]

The production quality is amazing as always. As is the content which really gets you thinking. Thank you.

[@random6033]

it's weird that it's blue that was left off considering that there are 3 types of color-sensitive cones in our eyes which most strongly react to red green and *blue*

[@Zuwie4]

Fun fact: in Russian, the colors of the rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, goluboy, siniy, and violet.

[@daniildomanin6451]

Yep, goluboy is usually referred to “light blue” and siniy to “darker blue”

[@enlosluceros7236]

*The Spanish word for blue "azul" literally comes from lapis lazuli.*

[@gaburieruR]

Nope, the portuguese & spanish word "azul" came after azure

[@guz_petricor]

@@gaburieruR which came, as Kevin just said, after lapis lazuli

[@FurretAnimationsIsEpic]

Lapis Lazuli Lazuli Azuli Azul Bzul Bul Brul Bruh

[@ritaneremijastrial7167]

So in Italian. Azzurro. That is "light blue" It's a pity that in English there is no distinction between the two colors, light blue and blue. In Italian, there are Azzurro and Blu.

[@Boi-iy6dh]

9:46 and that’s how anime was born

[@HobbylosLuke]

Blue was a mistake

[@neilisbored2177]

You know what, on second thought, blue isn't really that good of a color anyway

[@cypressboi4714]

10:44 song name:expirinenting

[@juliomarquestang8098]

Always thought Trevor Something and Vsauce2 videos had something in common. Maybe the lights. Now the music perfectly blending in.

[@idiotinium]

colours distinguish by hue value: 0 = red 30 = orange 60 = yellow 90 = lime 120 = green 150 = teal 180 = cyan 210 = sky blue 240 = blue 270 = purple 310 = magenta 340 = pink prefixes like "pure" "light" and "dark" which depend on lightness: 0-25 = dark 26-49 & 51-74 = close to pure 50 = pure 75-100 = light so for example the hue and lightness for a light cyan would be H = 180 & L = 75-100 and a pure red would be H = 0 & L = 50 if you're looking for dark green that would be H = 120 & L = 0-25 thanks have a nice day with classifying your colours

[@TheAdamFothers]

RadonNebula shut up nerd

[@idiotinium]

I would like to see you explain colours like that

[@Azknowledgethirsty]

RadonNebula you are wrong, magenta is 300 and pink is 330, those are the definitions, you may confuse the numbers

[@Noboruu]

Im a programmer, so hex values are way better than that :3 :P XD

[@floor.smorenburg]

Thanx! You are awesome!

[@theprussian4616]

DID RAINBOWS THEMSELVES CHANGE!?!?!?!?!?! no.

[@leso5475]

What’s the name & artist of the piece of music at 6:15? It’s driving me crazy as I hear it all over the place and love it but I don’t know the name.

[@samanthacompton7079]

great video !