Silver (color)

Silver is the metallic shade resembling gray, closest to that of polished silver.

The visual sensation usually associated with the metal silver is its metallic shine. This cannot be reproduced by a simple solid color, because the shiny effect is due to the material's brightness varying with the surface angle to the light source. In addition, there is no mechanism for showing metallic or fluorescent colors on a computer. Consequently in art one would normally use a metallic paint that glitters like real silver. A matte grey color like the swatch on this page would not be considered silver.

Additional recommended knowledge

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Silver

At right is displayed the web color silver.

The first recorded use of silver as a color name in English was in 1481 . ^[2]

Since version 3.2 of HTML "silver" is a name for one of the 16 basic-VGA-colors.

Use examples of web color

• HTML-example:
• CSS-example: body { background-color:silver; }

Pale Silver

Pale Silver is the color called silver in Crayola crayons. It is not a grayscale color, but a tone of orange-red.

Silver in nature

Minerals

• Many metals are silver colored and good reflectors because of the relatively free electrons in the outer electron shells of their atoms.^[3]

Plants

• A silver fir is a valuable timber tree that originated in Europe.^[4]

Animals

• A silverfish is an insect which may eat paper or cloth. ^[5]
• Many fishes are colored silver.
• A silver fox is a "genetically determined phase of the common red fox in which the pelt is black tipped with white". ^[6]

Shades of silver color comparison chart

• Pale Silver (Crayola Silver) (Hex: #C9C0BB) (RGB: 201, 192, 187)
• SILVER (web color) (Hex: #C0C0C0) (RGB: 192, 192, 192)

Silver in human culture

Aphorisms

• The expression every cloud has a silver lining is used to point out that something good can often come out of even a bad situation.

Automobiles

• Silver is the most popular color for automobiles because police surveys have shown that because silver is a bright color, silver automobiles are involved in crashes less often than cars of any other color.

Chemistry

• Mercury, the element with the atomic number of 80, is also called quicksilver because it resembles liquid silver.

Culture

• A silver age is a name often given to a particular period within a history, typically as a lesser and later successor to a golden age.

Film

• The silver screen is a poetic name for a motion picture screen.

Heraldry

• In heraldry there is no distinction between silver and white, represented as "argent".
• In English heraldry argent (silver) or white signified brightness, purity, virtue, or innocence. ^[7]

Literature

• The Silver Cord is a 1926 play by Sidney Howard about the emotional tie between a mother and a son and the term "silver cord" is sometimes used to represent this tie. ^[8]

Marriage

• The 25th wedding anniversary is called the Silver Anniversary and one is expected to give gifts made of silver to a couple celebrating that anniversary. By extension, the 25th anniversary of any important event is called the silver jubilee.

Parapsychology

• Those who claim to have had out-of-body experiences sometimes report that they observe a silver cord connecting their astral body to their physical body. ^[9]

Sports

• A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests (typically athletics competitions) such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc.

Surnames

• Silver (or names containing the word Silver) is a common surname among people who are Jewish and of European ancestry (Ashkenazi Jews).

See also

• List of colors

References