CYAN

'Cyan' (from Greek κυανός, meaning "blue") may be used as the name of any of a number of a range of colors in the blue/green part of the spectrum. In reference to the visible spectrum cyan is used to refer to the color obtained by mixing equal amounts of green and blue light or the removal of red from white light. As such, cyan is the complement of red in RGB and CMYK color systems: cyan pigments absorb red light. In RYB color space cyan is the compliment of red-orange.
''Cyan'' is also called aqua or ''blue-green''. The name "cyan" for printer's cyan has been in use since 1889. ^[1]
Some shades of color close to cyan in the cyan color range are baby blue, turquoise, and light blue.

Contents

Variations of cyan

Electric cyan (web color aqua) (electrical blue)

Process cyan (pigment cyan) (printer's cyan)

Spectral reflectance curve of cyan

Cyan in nature

Cyan in human culture

References

See also

Variations of cyan

Electric cyan (web color aqua) (electrical blue)

The vivid cyan that is seen on an electronic display device (shown at right) is also referred to as 'electric cyan' to distinguish it from the less vivid turquoise-like ''process cyan'' used in color printing (shown below). (Note: while the color is defined by definite RGB values, the display of the color will vary depending on the absolute color space used and the nature of the physical display device, e.g. computer monitor, and if this page is printed it is likely that the color shown will be far from representative.)
The web color aqua is an alias for electric cyan, i.e., it is exactly the same color.
To reproduce electric cyan in inks, it is necessary to add some white ink to the printer's cyan below, so when it is reproduced in printing, it is not a primary subtractive color. It is called 'aqua' (a name in use since 1598) because it is a color commonly associated with water, such as the appearance of the water at a tropical beach. ^[2] This color used to sometimes be also be called ''electric blue'' (a name which had been in use since 1884) because this color is the color of a lightning flash or an electric spark; this color term in reference to cyan has now been changed to 'electrical blue' to avoid confusion with the color now called ''electric blue'', the blue that registers on a computer screen as opposed to ''pigment blue''. ^[3].

Process cyan (pigment cyan) (printer's cyan)

Cyan is also one of the common inks used in four-color printing, along with magenta, yellow, and black; this set of colors is referred to as CMYK.
While both the additive secondary and the subtractive primary are called ''cyan'', they can be substantially different from one another. Cyan printing ink can be more saturated or less saturated than the RGB secondary cyan, depending on what RGB color space and ink are considered.
Process cyan is not an RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there can be variations in the printed color that is pure cyan ink. A typical formulation of ''process cyan'' is shown in the color box at right. The source of the color shown at right is the color cyan that is shown in the diagram located at the bottom of the following website offering tintbooks for CMYK printing: [2].

Spectral reflectance curve of cyan

Cyan in nature

★ Water is colorless, but due to scattering sometimes appears to be blue or cyan.

★ Cyanobacteria (sometimes called blue-green algae) are an important link in the food chain.

★ Cyanide derives its name from Prussian blue, a blue pigment containing the cyanide ion.

Cyan in human culture

===Architecture===

★ Cyan colored tiles are often used to pave swimming pools to make the water within them seem more inviting to swim in, by making the cyan color of their water seem more intensely colored.
===Astronomy===

★ The planet Uranus is cyan.
===Interior Design and Industrial Design===

★ The color cyan (called ''aqua'' by interior designers) was commonly used in the interior design of the 1950s in combination with either magenta or pink and black to give a modern feel to interiors (These colors were also popular for automobiles in the 1950s.).
===Photography===

★ Cyanotype, or blueprint, a monochrome photographic printing process that predates the use of the word ''cyan'' as a color, yields a deep 'cyan-blue' colored print based on the Prussian blue pigment.^[4]
===Religion===

★ In Catholic Christianity cyan represents the deadly sin Sloth.
===Medical===

★ Cyanosis is an abnormal blueness of the skin, usually a sign of poor oxygen intake.

References

1. Merriam Webster's College Dictionary, 10th Edition, 1994, see under entry "cyan".
2. Maerz and Paul ''The Dictionary of Color'' 1930 (see under Aqua in Index, Page 189)
3. Maerz and Paul ''The Dictionary of Color'' 1930 (see under Electric Blue in Index, Page 194)
4. Cyanotype: the history, science and art of photographic printing in Prussian blue, Mike Ware, , , NMSI Trading Ltd, 1999,

See also

★ List of colors