New Blue

I hadn’t given much thought in the past to the science of colour, but it turns out we haven’t had a new blue in over 200 years – until now. Like many great inventions, this new shade was found by accident. Chemist Mas Subramanian, a professor at Oregon State University, inadvertently made YlnMn blue.

This was back in 2009, but now Crayola wants to give this new colour purpose and has turned it into a one of their crayons. The name, YlnMn is a little clunky so Crayola are putting to a vote what the new name should be. I actually like the professors name, Subramanian, sounds blue-like to me!

So why this blue? Well, this new shade is what is known as a ‘durable’ colour. It wont fade or be effected by heat or time. The combination the chemist used was heated manganese oxide, yttrium and indium. The result was a reaction dazzled!

At the end of this year you should be able to find this new creation on the shelves. I wonder what the name will be…

Found at My Modern Met.