What is Pigment?
[[Image:Natural ultramarine pigment.jpg|thumb|200px|Natural [[ultramarine]] pigment in powdered form.]] [[Image:Ultramarinepigment.jpg|thumb|200px|Synthetic [[ultramarine]] pigment is chemically identical to natural ultramarine.]] A '''pigment''' is something that is added to something else to give it [[color]]. Natural pigments can come from just about anything. Pigments can be made from [[animal]]s, [[plant]]s, [[Rock (geology)|rocks]] and [[mineral]]s or even the [[ground]] itself, for example [[clay]] plus salts. Pigments can also be created by [[people]]. An example of a pigment is [[ultramarine]]. It is a [[powder]] found in nature. It adds a [[blue]] color to [[paint]]s and [[dye]]s. The first [[synthetic]] [[dye]] was [[aniline]]. Aniline is an [[organic compound|organic chemical compound]] produced in two stages from [[benzene]]. It gives a [[mauve]] color which was much used for dyeing clothes in the 19th century. It was invented in 1856 by William Henry Perkin. Apparently, it gave a brilliant [[fuchsia]] color when first applied, but fades rapidly to mauve.<ref>Druding, Susan C. 1982. Dye history from 2600 BC to the 20th century. [http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923092617/http://www.straw.com/sig/dyehist.html/ |date=2020-09-23 }}</ref> == References == {{reflist}} {{-}} {{science-stub}} [[Category:Pigments| ]]