Electric blue (color)

Electric blue is a color whose definition varies but is often considered close to cyan, and which is a representation of the color of lightning, an electric spark, and the color of ionized argon gas; it was originally named after the ionized air glow produced during electrical discharges, though its meaning has broadened to include shades of blue that are metaphorically "electric" by virtue of being "intense" or particularly "vibrant". Electric arcs can cause a variety of color emissions depending on the gases involved, but blue and purple are typical colors produced in the troposphere where oxygen and nitrogen dominate.

The first recorded use of electric blue as a color name in English was in 1845.[^1] [^2] The color electric blue (the version shown below as medium electric blue) was in vogue in the 1890s.[^3]

HEXHEX Variations of electric blue

HEXHEXHEX Deep electric blue (French electric blue)

The deep tone of electric blue displayed adjacent is the color called bleu électrique in the Pourpre.com color list, a color list widely popular in France.

HEXHEXHEX Iridescent electric blue

This shade of electric blue reflects the kind which is only metaphorically "electric". Its iridescence is also metaphoric.

HEXHEXHEX Medium electric blue

The color displayed adjacent, titled medium electric blue, is the electric blue which "had an immense vogue in the latter 19th century".[^3] Its source is a textile sample from the 1890s.[^5] [^6]

Today, this tone remains typical of "electric blue" fabrics in the mass market.

HEXHEXHEX Dark electric blue

Dark electric blue is a dark cyan color that is the color called electric blue, formalized as a color in the ISCC–NBS system in 1955.[^8]

The normalized color coordinates for dark electric blue are identical to Payne's grey, which was first recorded as a color name in English in 1835.[^9]