The Pharaonic civilization dazzled the world with the extent of scientific progress it reached, and with the passage of time and technological progress in the modern world, researchers and scientists were able to explain some of the scientific capabilities reached by that civilization.
Among those secrets, scientists have come up with what is known internationally as The Egyptian Blue, which is not just an ordinary dye color, in addition to being a color that was difficult to manufacture at that time, the Egyptian blue has multiple chemical properties that can help in several areas.
Natural blue
The blue color was not common in paintings and murals in pre-pharaohs, due to the scarcity of blue minerals and being chemically unstable and difficult to form color from them, as blue is found in nature in lapis lazuli stone or precious lazuli stone, which are two rare stones that are difficult to form color. Of which.
After 2500 BC, 3 shades of blue were found, all of silicate and copper compounds (Shutterstock)
As for the paintings of the pharaohs and the murals of their temples and tombs, you find an interesting variety of blue shapes, which research has proven not from lapis lapis stone or natural lazurite stone, which aroused researchers' curiosity to learn more about the source of the blue color in the Pharaonic era.
According to an article published by the Royal Society of Chemistry on the analysis of archaeological evidence, vessels dating back to about 3100 BC were found made with a deep blue dye, and after 2500 BC, 3 shades of blue were found, all of silicate and copper compounds.
In the era of the pharaohs
The pharaohs were able to extract a pigment consisting of copper, iron oxides, silica and calcium, which is a mixture of sand believed to be from specific regions of the desert and crushed limestone (calcium carbonate) with fragments of bronze or copper that are heated and melted at temperatures ranging between 850 and 1000 degrees Celsius to be at the end. Egyptian blue.
The first evidence of the use of Egyptian blue was observed in the Fourth Dynasty (2575-2467 BC) as it appears on limestone carvings from that period, and in the Middle Kingdom (2050-1652 BC) and continued to be used as a dye in the decoration of tombs, wall paintings, furnishings, and statues. .
Its most famous use was in the famous crown of Queen Nefertiti mixed with precious stones found in the temple of her husband Akhenaten, and despite the discovery of the powder from prehistoric times, its multiple chemical properties were not discovered until recently.
Egyptian blue chemical properties
Research in the last decade has revealed what distinguishes Egyptian blue from other pigments, as it is used today in solving crime mysteries and in scientific research due to its unique chemical properties.
Scientists have also tested the uses of Egyptian blue as an imaging dye on animals, plants, and tissue structure in the fruit fly cell nucleus, and the research was led by Tina Salguero, assistant professor of chemistry in Georgia.
Their findings on Egyptian blue were published on the Royal Society of Chemistry website, in which they indicated the ability of copper and calcium silicates to provide a new class of interesting nanomaterials with many applications such as biomedical infrared imaging and security ink formulations.
These nanoscale reflective properties of this component can be used to detect fingerprints at crime scenes, especially on smooth surfaces that stick to the usual fingerprint detection powder, where light appears and reflects lines with pinpoint accuracy.
In recent research
An international research team at the University of Gottingen, led by Dr. Sebastian Kroes of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, was able to reveal the chemical properties present in Egyptian blue, after the team succeeded in exfoliating very thin layers of calcium copper silicate beads.
Researchers discovered that it was 100,000 times thinner than a human hair and that it could be used for imaging using a spectroscopic or infrared microscope, and the results of the research were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Also, research conducted by Lawrance Berkley National Laboratory in the United States indicated the quantitative yield of Egyptian blue, how it can be used to save energy and reduce the need for air conditioning and thus preserve the environment.
This was done by preserving buildings from overheating and reflecting heat, by using it on ceilings, walls and windows reinforced with photoelectric cells made of Egyptian blue and have the ability to generate electricity from sunlight.