It's half-past too-early AM, and to wake my tired body up, I unlock my phone's home screen
to check my social media. That’s when my sleep-deprived brain notices something I've
never spotted before: most social media icons on the screen are blue! Blue? Weird, but it
seems some things are the color they are for a reason. Well just “Color My World” why
don’tcha? Here’s my quick list.
1. Yellow Traffic Light At the beginning of the 20th century, streets
were becoming increasingly more crowded with people and cars. It was getting dangerous,
and then William Potts, a Detroit police officer, suggested the first modern-type, 3-color traffic
lights. He got this idea from railroad signal lights: red, white, and green. But since yellow
is more visible, it soon replaced the white light.
2. Green Dollar Bills With the number of counterfeiters growing
in the middle of the 18th century, dollar bills needed some protection. That's when
a special green ink was developed. If someone tampered with it, this immediately messed
up the bill's black ink. And since then, even after more secure methods of protection were
invented, the dollar’s color has never changed.
3. Yellow and Light-Green Highlighters Highlighters are filled with a special semi-transparent
fluorescent ink that can glow in dim light. They can be different colors – blue, pink,
purple, orange – but the most popular ones are yellow and light-green. The reason is
that they don't prevent you from seeing the text after black-and-white photocopying. Photocopiers
perceive yellow and light-green marks as very pale, almost white, and don't print them.
4. Green Pool Table The modern game of pool is the descendant
of trucco or lawn billiards. This game was a variation of ground billiards and became
popular in 17th-century Europe. People equipped with heavy balls and large cues played the
game - any guesses? - right, on the lawn! And since grass is green, they later started
to cover pool tables with green felt to preserve this tradition.
5. Blue Jeans Like highlighters, jeans now come in all kinds
of colors – but blue is the classic. In its early days, denim was colored with a natural
indigo dye. Unlike other dyes, which penetrated cotton fibers, the blue one stuck to the thread’s
surface. So the more people washed jeans, the more stylishly faded they looked. Later,
natural indigo dye was replaced with a synthetic one, but the signature blue faded effect remained
the same!
6. Blue Social Media Icons Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype, Telegram
– all have blue icons. People associate the color blue with safety, peacefulness,
and trust. To the point that it even lowers a person’s heart rate! It encourages us
to use these platforms to calmly share our thoughts and photos. Plus, blue isn't an aggressive
color (like red – which speeds up your pulse!), so instead of feeling cautious, you can concentrate
on communication or reading content.
7. Yellow Bananas When a banana first sprouts, it's always green
thanks to chlorophyll (the green plant pigment) in its peel. But as the fruit ripens, chemical
reactions inside its peel break the chlorophyll down. Its levels drop, the fruit loses its
bright green coloring, and yellow pigments become more visible. Same thing happens when
leaves change in the fall – they lose the green, and other warmer pigments are simply
revealed!
8. Soccer Penalty Cards Until the 70s, there were only verbal warnings
in soccer. But it led to plenty of misunderstanding and truly confusing situations when players
didn't know they’d received a warning. That's when bright penalty cards appeared. Yellow
ones were used to caution players who were guilty of light foul play. And more aggressive
red cards meant rule violations so extreme that players had to leave the field.
9. The Yellow Pages In 1883, a printer in Wyoming was working
on a phone book (remember those?) when it ran out of white paper. The person operating
it didn't think twice and used yellow sheets instead. It caught on, and since then, business
listings have been printed on yellow paper and called "the yellow pages." And non-commercial
listings are on white sheets, a.k.a. "the white pages."
10. White Planes White is the most popular color for painting
aircraft. For one, this color reflects sunlight most effectively, which doesn't let the plane
heat up too much. All kinds of cracks, dents, and other damage are more visible on the white
background, meaning the fault can be spotted and repaired as fast as possible. And finally,
it's cheaper to buy white airplanes because it's the color they have after production.
Easier to sell them too – nobody wants to repaint a big bright pink jet! Speaking of
pink…
11. Pink Flamingos Flamingos are born gray but later turn pink
because of their diet. They eat a lot of tiny shrimps and a certain type of algae – which
are both packed with a special pigment. When the flamingo's liver processes this pigment,
the pink molecules travel throughout the bird’s body, painting them the flamingo's trademark
color.
12. The Yellow River The Huang He is China’s second-longest river
and the seventh-longest in the world. Its total length is greater than the distance
between Los Angeles and New York! As for the nickname and unusual hue, the Yellow River
carries billions of tons of yellow silt.
13. Red Carpets In Ancient Greece, purple and red were the
colors of nobility because both were expensive and rare. Only wealthy people could afford
to buy and wear such bold colors. No wonder the first mention of "red carpets" dates back
to 458 BCE! Red fabric dye remained more expensive than other colors until the 18th century,
and red clothing screamed of its owner's status. Later, synthetic dyes came out, but red was
still associated with a luxurious life.
14. Red Stop Signs The very first stop signs didn't have any
specific color or shape, and it confused drivers and sometimes led to accidents. Then stop
signs with black letters on a yellow background appeared. The first choice was actually a
red background, but all red dyes tended to fade over time. Stop signs weren't reflective,
and yellow was the second-best choice to make them noticeable. But in the mid-20th century,
a red porcelain enamel that didn't fade was invented. With this problem out of the picture,
stop signs became red with white lettering.
15. Blue Sky All light coming from the sun gets scattered
in the atmosphere. But the blue light travels as smaller, shorter waves. That's why it gets
spread even more than other colors. It makes you see the sky as bright blue on a clear
sunny day. But at sunset, all you see is pink, red, orange, or yellow. That's because the
sun is at another angle, and its light must travel through more of the atmosphere. More
scattering of the spectrum's red side happens, and you see breathtaking warm colors.
16. Oranges This fruit can grow in different climate zones,
and its color depends on where it ripens. If it grows in a cooler place with changing
seasons, its skin turns orange as soon as the temperature drops. It happens because
chlorophyll breaks down when there isn’t as much sun, and your eyes can see the orange
pigment. (Same thing with bananas, remember?) But if an orange grows in an always hot and
sunny climate, chlorophyll remains intact, and the fruit stays green!
17. Bread Tags Bread tag colors aren't random – they indicate
the day the bread was baked on. In most cases, the tag color scheme goes like this: Monday
is blue, Tuesday - green, Thursday - red, Friday - white, and Saturday - yellow. This
makes it easier for grocery store employees to remove stale bread from the shelves and
replace it with freshly baked loaves, since they don’t need to read the tiny print on
the tag. To remember the colors, keep in mind that they go in alphabetical order. Not Roy.
G. Biv, unfortunately…
18. Basketball The first basketballs were brown because they
were made of brownish leather. But a brown-colored ball was difficult to see for both players
and fans since the wooden court is brown too. That’s when they decided to make them a
bright unmistakable orange. Impressed with how this hue changed everything, the authorities
adopted the new ball, and it became a standard for all basketball organizations.
Hey, if you learned something new today, then give the video a like and share it with a
friend! And here are some other videos I think you'll enjoy. Just click to the left or right,
and stay on the Bright Side of life!