The Rarest Pigment in the World | Colour the Spectrum of Science | BBC Science
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- Опубліковано 15 чер 2024
- Lapis blue rocks are equivalent to the price of gold and can mainly be in the mountains of Afghanistan. The unique combination of sulphur with other elements produces this deep rich blue we call ultramarine.
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This is why that blue room unearthed at Pompie is such a discovery.
Wasn't that Egyptian blue rather than lapiz lazuli on that wall? From what I remember Egyptian blue was a copper compound, which makes sense since Egypt was a major copper producer.
@@TaLeng2023 Yes it was Egyptian blue, i.e. _Egyptian blue, also known as calcium copper silicate or cuprorivaite, is a pigment that was used in ancient Egypt for thousands of years._
I know, the existence of the room being blue is such a flex in and of itself
You have a device that is connected to the internet, yet you didn't bother looking up how to spell "Pompeii"
@@trninfan dude relax we all knew what they were saying
He is so calm and it must be so nice to just chat with him. He has a peaceful aura
His aura must be blue. But I can't see it on UA-cam.
Similar to David Attenborough
I disagree. I find his voice labored and phony. Like Austin Butler in Elvis.
@@dubsarWhat a crock.
@@chrisgrill6302 His crocks may also be blue. And his crocs too.
Ultramarine pigment was not just ground up lapis lazuli. After grinding the pure mineral lazurite was separated from the other minerals making up the rock and that's how ultramarine pigment was made. That separation is not easy so the pigment was way more expensive then lapis lazuli and also bluer than lapis lazuli. Nowadays that mineral can be created with chemical reactions so it isn't that expensive any more.
And now it can be produced synthetically, at 100% purity, and had for dirt cheap, relatively speaking. The expensive new blue kid on the block is YInMn Blue, which is also synthetic, but I believe the cost is because of intellectual property (patents on synthetic methods or something). It's also the bluest looking stuff you've ever seen. Cameras really don't do it justice.
The rock she had looks like it was pure lapis Lazuli, so maybe there was no other minerals to separate out. It certainly looked blue enough.
You could see the pyrite in her sample.
Right, the different minerals were evident in the make up of the whole rock visually and, of course, we know it’s a composite.
One could acquire actual Lazurite crystals, some of which can be very pure, and grind those up.
Ultramarine, such a beautiful word.
Praise the emperor!
Semper fidelis
Ultramarino em Português
The color's name reflects the reason why the derivative pigment was so costly in ages past: merchants carried overseas from such long distances.
@@Selanium "And they shall know, no fear."
We have lapis in Chile as well, is not exclusive from the middle east, it’s actually our national stone.
I've got another blue mineral called covellite from Chile. It's beautiful.
The best Lapis lazuli of the world in therms of grade or quality comes from Afghanistan
Yes I have bought several pieces of lapis jewelry in Chile on my trips there. It’s great to see the sculptures made of lapis there as well.
Spray painted rocks... nice try...
But the purer more vibrant lapis is from the region of Afghanistan and Pakistan some areas of Tajikistan
Lapis is one of my favorite stones to wire wrap for jewelry. I love the flecks of iron pyrite within, it's absolutely beautiful! 💙
I've loved Lapis Lazuli since going to the Treasures of Tutankhamun tour in the 1970s as a small child.
I went to that around 73-74 or so in London, it was fantastic. ✌🏻
I used to cut that into gemstones for jewelry. I can't imagine crushing Grade A+ Lapis into powder....Horrors!
DID YOU SAVE YOUR CUTTING DUST?? 😅
Really can relate to that! Lapis is wonderful.
If you're an artist, it makes perfect sense. Ultramarine blue is a staple color for most artists. It can now be made synthetically.
Where can one purchase a legitimate raw stone of Lapis?
Some say Tyrian purple was more valuable than Lapis Blue in antiquity.
I may be wrong but I think tyrian purple was used in fabric dye and lapis was for paintings
@@magesalmanac6424Tyrianian purple (πορφύρα) was used as a dye for expensive fabrics, and also as a base for various drugs.
It was. It was worn by emperors only hence "born to the purple"
it still very much is. 10g of highest quality Lapis pigment is about $390, whereas 250 mg (1/40 the amount) of Tyrian Purple is $1015. It would be over $40k to get 10g of Tyrian purple, if there even is that much to be bought at once.
You can't wear lapis blue, only tyrian purple binds to fabric because it's an organic compound from sea snails.
Blue is my hands-down favorite color. Blue is magical. And so rare in nature.
Rare?
It's everywhere! Even the Oceans, especially the oceans!
Well, except for... the SKY.
True blue flowers are the rarest color in a garden…Meconopsis, the Himalayan blue poppy, is an example. 🟦🌱
@@otmargreb6110Oceans are not that blue, and there is no blue pigment in them, there are few species of insects and plants that actually blue, and not just refracted light
While lapis (lazurite) does have sulphur in its formula, the sulphur smell will be coming from the crushed pyrite which is embedded in the rock. The chemical bonding in the lapis won't release the sulphur.
I concur.
Apparently you’ve never mulled synthetic ultramarine into a medium and been hit in the face with the smell of rotten eggs. I can assure you pure synthetic ultramarine stinks of sulfur when mixed with oil or gum Arabic. It’s from the ultramarine.
UA-cam’s algorithm, I swear. I had JUST watched the cable TV show Unearthed on the Sci Channel about blue being a rare, expensive pigment and used exclusively for royalty during egyptian pyramid times.
Quite a few more steps than grinding it up to make true ultramarine blue.
They should’ve called that video “the true Minecraft lapis lazuli”
Even that music similar to in game music was used too
I once saw it in a market before. I regret not buying it.
Lapis lazuli is one of my very favorites, along with azurite (blue)-malachite (green), which often form together.
It would be better if you say among which set is this the favourite, or the top 2 and top 3 could be blue crystal meth and the sky.
Azurite and malachite are found together in rocks from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, gorgeous!
Enchanting.
It's so beautiful, and it makes you appreciate things you'd never think of, like how to handle materials and the process it takes to transform all of this.
I was in a great mood when I started learning about this. But then I started feeling
Blue.
Not sure that translates beyond English, but haha very funny.
Show yourself out 😂
arguably the most precious. I would argue that "mummy brown" made from real Egyptian mummies was probably more... "limited" than a rock that occurred naturally. The rock is rare, but rocks are not rare. Weve made paint out of Kings before. Literally dead kings. That will never happen again ever on this planet.
That rock could form again.
Why has no-one mentioned how lovely Helen is, i could listen to her all day. 😊
As the saying goes, "You learn something new every day." Well, I learnt something new today thanks to your video .
I wondered where Helen had gone . . . I hadn't seen her much on The Fully Charged Show lately. More Helen please.
Azurite and sodalite are two other blue minerals, azurite was used in jewellery and as inlays in furniture. Prussian blue, cerulean blue and cobalt blue were also pigments used in the 18th century. At approx $500/kg for lapis lazuli, gold is about 80x more expensive.
Nowadays, dear
Those are all used to make watercolors today, how odd. I like my synthetic ultramarine blue just fine though. Daniel Smith carries a lot of genuine mineral paints like sodalite and some brands carry azurite, lapis, vivianite, etc.
For anyone who is interested in the history of colour, read Victoria Finlay's book 'Colour: Travels through a Paintbox'. It is a fascinating read.
I have a 250 ml jar of ultramarine paint, it is the "bluest" thing I own, it's thick almost like pudding so a little goes a long way. I only use it for things that glow when I paint with it, like the sky or on the very fine edges of an intense white light source to make it look even more intense, like an extra bright star in a starfield or an electric/plasma arc.
This sparks my curiosity for further research on Lapis. Thank you.
Sounds like he's trying to speak for the first time in 40 years. Hopefully with use, his voice will revive.
I heard he got better. Now he's walking and talking and eating with a spoon and everything!
1.4 million subs I'm guessing means that by tomorrow morning the market price of Lapis will have doubled from last week. Thanks BBC.
People have driven the price of crystals up to unaffordability by thinking they have mystical powers. Grrrrrrrrr.
His voice matches the beauty of the stone
This is amazing, would love to see those blue mountains
That was insightful that comment of the girl when she said that this is the first time this piece of rock that she just broke became blue! Its true, only the surface in contact with light has a colour, inside is all pure black. Kind of obvious once you think about it, but its easy to take it for granted that the rock is blue throughout !
Omg why hasn't this guy made an asmr channel he'd become a billionaire
If I saw one of these before watching this video, I would probably think it's a spray painted rock and walk right past it lol. The color doesn't even look natural. Very cool.
Golf R colour and a grand extra !
My favorite colour, in any shade or tone.
What sort of oil is the blue pigment mixed with to make paint? The answer is linseed oil.
when i hear Lapis Lazuli i think of the Annunaki giving it as most valuable gifts to eachother
damn it actually is eye catching even all these steps away thru the camera and my monitor. impressed .
Thanks for whispering it to me.
I have a small unlabeled vial filled with a blue sand like material. Found in a clean out....no idea what it is but i liked the color so i picked it up and saved it ...kinda looks like this stuff....but could be something else. Who knows? 😮
Ah yes, Lapis Lazuli... Minecraft flashbacks back then. :D
Best video I've seen in a while. Thank you!
Well colour me blue!
Fun fact: the first oil painting was done by afghans in the mountains of banyan used this color as base color of their all paintings
Lapis Lazuli and Labradorite are my favorite gems, partly because of the beautiful blue hues. 💙 Great video. Thanks!🙏
1:10 No, no they definitely did not believe that but it’s a nice metaphor.
I love the color blue it's my favorite color i like this shade very much
Well i subscribed and am watching this a second time. This is beautiful, excellent :)
YInMn Blue, or Oregon Blue, a recently discovered pigment, is comparable to Ultramarine.
there’s lapis in mexico too
I too love blue! And I especially love lapis lazuli. I have a ring with lapis and there is a tiny bit of gold that reminds me of a star in a dark blue sky. cheers
Inventing a blue colour LED also turned out to be super hard. Scientists won Nobel prize for inventing blue colour LED. Without which we wouldn't have LED TVs and LED mobile phone screens.
that color is heavenly! so fascinating!
Fascinating. How does the pyrite within the lapis affect the paint?
Wow just happen to have a chunk of this rock on my shelf. Was thinking lapidary, but now maybe painting.
I always think of Maggie Nelson's Bluets anytime I observe these wondrous obsessions with the colour blue
Such a royal hue of blue. Just beautiful. 💙
I love lapis
10g purest Lapis $ 390.00
Very interesting. The first time I saw lapis azuli was in a gift shop just outside the Atacama desert in northern Chile. The area is extremely rich in copper and sulphur, so with a recollection of making copper sulphate in my chemistry classes, I always assumed this was the main component of lapis azuli.
Thanks for enlightening me! 😊
Imagine asking this guy what his favorite color is.
The problem with lapis lazuli is the more finer u make the powder it starts to lose its color, so u need to grind it enough but not mull it too much.
Minimal info here. What about the chemistry? What about azurite? What color-name doe it produce?
Perhaps the Pharaoh of Egypt was accustomed to it in the early days as a sign of pride
gorgeous
I bought quite a bit of this while in Afghanistan. They sold it at just about every bazaar I’ve been to out there.
I deal in lapis lazuli, have been for years now, and made this paint with fine madani 4 mine material, it truly is an amazing pigment. Its not rare as in emeralds or other gemstones, but processing it and shipping it makes it a bit of a nightmare, we crush it with hammer and have to replace the grinder every few months, I’ve broken through so many grinders, and it’s toxic so u have to wear protection and face masks when grinding.
If this guy's ringtone isn't "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65, I'll be very disappointed.
doesn't look at all like the sky had fallen to earth and turned to rock, but okay...
At certain times of day, under certain conditions, the sky can look like that
And also the sky is such a light blue, it can be taken as white or green especially in those times where blue was not named. So Lapis is like a rock with a colour never found on earth.
Y quien tiene el mérito por la variedades de los colores y tener la capacidad para crear combinaciones únicas que emocionan a otros?
BCN
I love lapis lazuli!
Until the invention of modern chemical dyes like Prussian Blue, Lapis Lazuli was the only way to get a real blue blue. It was also used as a jewellery item by various ancient cultures.
Lapis lazuli was imported into the Old Kingdom of Egypt.
❤. Very interesting history.
I knew what rock they were talking about just by reading the title due to my extensive Minecraft knowledge.
Such an amazing pure colour.
Yes, but have they found a sentient shade of blue yet?
The Blue Man Group
Amazing!
Vermeer’s blue?? Beautiful
Very cool!
I baught my wife some lapis at the local markets, have polished eggs and raw rocks!
Lapis lazuli is not that rare, for example large parts of the floor in Dubai airport have lapis tiles. However the pigment is probably from very high quality lapis. I have a necklace of it, very inexpensive. I did not know that S caused the deep blue!
Depends on the quality
So interesting. Thank you for sharing. 💙💙💙
We call it in the local language "Lajward" and its only in our Badakhshan mountains
Pigment is a color in and of itself (3:05). She opens the rock up and it's blue; it's integral. Your sight, the light, and perception do not enter into the equation. Tell me, what cast and lumen of light does it need to be blue?
The more purer lapis lazuli and expensive the less u have to process it…
No one will talk about how Afghanistans rare metals were exploited and brought to west while commiting a human tragedy in the region just for sake of greed.
Really good video
There's a stone called, wait for it, bluestone, which is available in abundance.
They say that you would start grinding pigments for your grandkids.
"lapiz lasuri is the bomb". gilgamesh.
Not atoms, but molecules. Sulfur (sulphur, ok?) is yellow in its elemental, atomic form.
Soon one short video about the YELLOW.
It’s interesting that blue is so rare across many areas of the natural world, not only in regards to pigments or stone; for example, animals and plants are more likely to be any other color than blue. Why, I don’t know. Yes, shades of blue, violet, lavender, periwinkle are seen in the natural world, but many are far closer to purple. Depending on the richness of the hue, it may or may not be considered as "blue". Blue animals & plants do absolutely exist, such as the American collared lizard, or the Himalayan _Mechanopsis_ (blue poppy). Other flowers that are considered "blue", to some extent, include _Delphinium_ (larkspur), certain _Agapanthus_ varieties (Nile lily), but not many. Fish have many colors… some skinks have blue tails, such as the _Plestiodon_ (five-lined, Coronado's) skinks.
But of all the rare blue creatures, the electric blue day gecko species _Lagodactylus williamsi_ from Micronesia, which is critically endangered, is one of the few species to be the EXACT tone of lapis lazuli. A living jewel 🦎 💙
I am a trainee pen maker and i really would love to make pens that contain lapis lazuli!
You could just take a file or rasp to it to create dust immediately.
But dust isn't fine enough. Pigments are best when ground to the point where
there is no feeling of grittiness when it is rubbed between your thumbnails.
Try doing that and see how long it takes...
It wouldn’t take long if you put the dust directly into the mortar instead of having small chunks of rock in the mortar like at 2:56
@@spacemissing Making ultramarine in the old way involved a lot more work that just grinding too. There were washing techniques to separate the blue lazurite from the other minerals in lapis.
I am worried that thieves will use the video to target the pigment collection. I suggest editing it to remove all indications of the location.
I have a beautiful lapis lazuli ring and it seems completely disgusting to break up these lovely stones to colour something that is temporary
I was happy when he said someobe walking in mountain ,thinking it was Argentina or Peru,only to realize it is Afghanistan,i got screwd
They say he has the rarest of pigments and then show a window like that.