Interesting facts about the colour green

Green is the color between blue and yellow on the visible spectrum.

In physics, green light is in the wavelength range of 495–570 nanometres, which is in the middle of the visible spectrum.

In art, green is a colour on the conventional wheel, located between yellow and blue and opposite red, its complement.

In the RGB color model, used on television and computer screens, it is one of the additive primary colors, along with red and blue, which are mixed in different combinations to create all other colors.

Green is between the yellow and blue colors in a rainbow.

It is the color of renewal and nature. The colors is associated with meanings of growth, harmony, freshness, and environment.

By far the largest contributor to green in nature is chlorophyll, the chemical by which plants photosynthesize and convert sunlight into chemical energy.

Many creatures have adapted to their green environments by taking on a green hue themselves as camouflage.

Several gemstones have a green color, including the emerald, which is colored green by its chromium content.

Green gemstones are believed to help create balance, promote change or growth, increase feelings of hopefulness and optimism, and break the emotional demands of others.

Pigments for green come from malachite, cobalt oxide, zinc oxide, copper acetate, and artificial chemical compounds.

Green is traditionally associated with money, finances, banking, ambition, greed, jealousy, and wall street.

Gambling tables in a casino are traditionally green. The tradition is said to have started in gambling rooms in Venice in the 16th century.

Billiards tables are traditionally covered with green woolen cloth. The first indoor tables, dating to the 15th century, were colored green after the grass courts used for the similar lawn games of the period.

Green was the traditional color worn by hunters in the 19th century, particularly the shade called hunter green. In the 20th century most hunters began wearing the color olive drab, a shade of green, instead of hunter green.

Green can communicate safety to proceed, as in traffic lights. Green and red were standardized as the colors of international railroad signals in the 19th century.

A green belt in karate, taekwondo and judo symbolizes a level of proficiency in the sport.

In legends, folk tales and films, fairies, dragons, monsters are often shown as green.

Neolithic cave paintings do not have traces of green pigments, but neolithic peoples in northern Europe did make a green dye for clothing, made from the leaves of the birch tree.

In Ancient Egypt, green was the symbol of regeneration and rebirth, and of the crops made possible by the annual flooding of the Nile.

In Ancient Greece, green and blue were sometimes considered the same color, and the same word sometimes described the color of the sea and the color of trees.

The Romans had a greater appreciation for the color green – it was the color of Venus, the goddess of gardens, vegetables and vineyards.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the color of clothing showed a person’s social rank and profession.

During post-classical and early modern Europe, green was the color commonly associated with wealth, merchants, bankers and the gentry, while red was reserved for the nobility. For this reason, the
costume of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci and the benches in the British House of Commons are green while those in the House of Lords are red.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, green was associated with the romantic movement in literature and art.

It also has a long historical tradition as the color of Ireland and of Gaelic culture.

Green is the historic color of Islam, representing the lush vegetation of Paradise.

It was the color of the banner of Muhammad, and is found in the flags of nearly all Islamic countries.

In the 19th century, green pigment made with copper arsenite was known for its toxicity, and some supporters of Napoleon claimed that the fumes from the green wallpaper at Longwood House on St. Helena island, his place of exile, contributed to his death.

The German poet and philosopher Goethe declared that green was the most restful color, suitable for decorating bedrooms.

The late 19th century also brought the systematic study of color theory, and particularly the study of how complementary colors such as red and green reinforced each other when they were placed next to each other. These studies were avidly followed by artists such as Vincent van Gogh. Describing his painting, The Night Cafe, to his brother Theo in 1888, Van Gogh wrote: “I sought to express with red and green
the terrible human passions. The hall is blood red and pale yellow, with a green billiard table in the center, and four lamps of lemon yellow, with rays of orange and green. Everywhere it is a battle and antithesis of the most different reds and greens.”

The term “green-eyed monster” refers to a jealous person and the term “green with envy” stands for feelings of jealousy and envy.

Having a “green thumb” means that you’re good at gardening.

Green room – a room at a theater where actors rest when not onstage, or a room at a television studio where guests wait before going on-camera. It originated in the late 17th century from a room of that color at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.

Green around the gills – a description of a person who looks physically ill.

Because of its association with nature, it is the color of the environmental movement. Political groups advocating environmental protection and social justice describe themselves as part of the Green movement, some naming themselves Green parties. This has led to similar campaigns in advertising, as companies have sold green, or environmentally friendly, products. Green is also the traditional color of safety and permission – a green light means go ahead, a green card permits permanent residence in the United States.