we can paint with lots of things mud or water ketchup or peanut butter but what makes paint paint what makes it different from everything else what is it made of where did it come from you encounter paint constantly without even thinking about it it's covering the walls around you it's making your car is a certain color it's telling you where to drive it might even be framed somewhere in your house though you probably only think of paint as a medium for artwork it got its start over 30,000 years ago as a means of writing down ideas and passing on information so what is paint it can be defined as a colored substance that is spread over a surface and dries to leave a thin decorative or protective coating paint consists of three three basic parts the binder the pigment and the solvent binders also called resins are sort of the glue that binds everything in paint together in earlier centuries milk olive oil eggs animal glue and wax were used as binders today we use an array of different more complicated binders up until the 1960s drying oils were often used to hold paint together these were natural oils that combined to form a polymer as they dried these were seen as inefficient because they took a very long time to dry and were replaced by improved binders such as alide resins and emulsions alide resins are the most common binders used in solvent-based paint or paint that contains a high level of organic solvents a m iions are the most common binders used in water-based paints and are usually used in household paints pigment is what gives paint its color pigments are solid powdery substances that come from ground up materials or chemicals compounds such as titanium dioxide and iron oxide are used as pigments titanium dioxide is a bright white chemical often found in sand and is used to make white paint iron oxide which can be found in the rust that forms on iron is used to make yellows Browns Reds and oranges earlier forms of paint however were not created with such Advanced pigments early humans used crushed rocks plants berries and blood to color their paint solvents help paint flow and smooth it out as it is applied to a surface pigments and binders together on their own form a thick substance that is very difficult to spread that's why solvents exist their job is to make the pigment and binder thinner and more spreadable after the paint is spread out the solvent evaporates into the air so that the paint beneath is distributed and dries evenly in this graphic you can see how the liquid portion of the paint evaporates as the paint dries and the solid stay behind to form a coating over a surface if you have ever painted a room in your house and notice a paint scent lingering for several days afterwards you are really smelling the solvent as it evaporates in all of these components of paint are different chemical elements that allow paint to be the colorful spreadable fast drying substance that we know we've already established that elements such as titanium iron and oxygen come together to make the pigment that gives paint its color other elements that make up certain pigments include carbon for black paint chromium and oxygen for green paint and many more there are thousands of different Elemental combinations that can be made to produce different pigment colors for example combining Cobalt with phosphate results in purple pigment but Cobalt with illuminate creates a blue elements that make up water and different oils are present in binders and solvents these include oxygen hydrogen carbon and pottassium before paints are complete they must go through several processes to ensure that they have whatever properties are desired for that type of paint some of the typical qualities required include how easy the paint is to apply how evenly the paint distributes how fast the paint dries how well the paint resists water and heat how durable it is and how easy or difficult it is to remove these images show a common technique used to test durability and monitor color and gloss change paint samples are placed on these weathering racks and exposed to the Sun at a 45° angle facing south weathering racks also test whether or not paint flakes off and show if fungi or bacteria grow on the exposed paint now stepping away from the Modern Chemistry aspect of paint let's look at how paint has changed over the years the earliest known paintings date back 35,000 years and were discovered inside caves in chave France these were discovered in 1969 there have been cave paintings found in Africa Spain Indonesia and many other areas too these early paintings are in shades of red Brown yellow and black due to the ingredients that were available to the people at the time the earliest paints were made from powdered materials and berries with animal fats and blood the paintings of early humans are often found in the deep and hard to reach places of caves suggesting that they may have been very special or s to the communities in the area this leads researchers to believe that one of the uses of early painting may have been used for Spiritual or religious reasons the paintings might have served a part in rituals or been good luck charms for hunting perhaps early humans believed that if they painted the animal they wanted to capture it would be easier to hunt them another hypothesis is on what purposes these early paintings served is that they were created to preserve the people's knowledge and keep a record of what species were living in the area at certain times the final and least popular idea on the subject is that they painted for the sole purpose of entertainment the early humans might have been bored so they painted animals around them these cave paintings were important turning point in human development we were now recording information that could be passed on and shared the theme of documenting information shows up again and again in the history of paint some egypti hieroglyphics were painted on stones tombes and Palace walls early paintings from Greece Rome and China depict what architectural and clothing styles were favored during different times in human history paintings that were made before the invention of cameras show us what important historical figures and places look like all of this shows us what important role painting has played in human history and in our collective learning the core use of paint altered dramatically with the introduction of agriculture agriculture is the practice of farming and the domestication of of plants and animals now the people had a specialize jobs in communities because not every Community member had to be a farmer this allowed for people to have more free time to do other things such as paint painting was more thoroughly developed as agrarian Societies or societies that relied on agriculture Advanced during the early Renaissance around 14 to 1500 painting as an art form was more thoroughly established this was a period in European history when interest in science literature and art were especially peaked during this time new materials that were more versatile and dried more slowly were used in paints also with a greater understanding of perception and depth and the desire to paint more realistically came a new form of paint oil paints these were shiny and gave paintings more Dimensions paintings also became more transportable during this time artists started using wood or fabric panels to paint on so that they could sell and travel with their art today the most popular form of paint is that which is canned and used in houses the first patent for these classic metal paint cans was given in 1869 soon after this paint began to be mass-produced new formulas for paint had to be created in order to make the mass production of paint possible previous paint recipes had been milk based and could not be canned for extended periods of time because like milk it would spoil now oilbased paint was sold commercially the first commercially sold oilbased paints contained harmful chemicals such as ammonia lead and borax lead based paint especially became a major problem before the dangers of lead paint were discovered it was used in many homes in inhaling lead paint can lead to lead poisoning or cancer in 1978 the United States placed an official ban on lead-based paint but houses built before this time may still have the harmful substance on their walls Americans selling a house that was built before 1978 are required to give buyers certain information regarding the use of lead paint in the house the discovery that lead and other chemicals in paint were harmful led to some unrest of the public and chemists again began working on creating a newer safer formula for paints today paint can be made with organic chemicals and compounds to produce a container of paint Brad Pete operations manager for Sherwin Williams paint company says that the raw ingredients are placed in a high-speed dispenser and are Blended together after this the paint is tested in a lab for quality assurance based on specifications of the formula so that batches are consistently produced as previously stated paints are tested for Quality such as durability resistance color strength and drying time once the paint is quality assured it is packaged into tubes bottles jars or trays then the packaged paint is distributed to other areas by use of trucks planes or ships the paint is then brought to distribution centers that deliver the paint to stores where it can be purchased by customers from caveman to Farmers to Greeks to Modern chemists paint has served an important role in human life for thousands of years it ties into big history thresholds of chemical elements collective learning and agriculture and it is crucial to our lives today paint colors preserves and has given us an entire art form the diverse use of paint that spans from practicality to Beauty has given paint an important and essential role in human history