Paint

Paint is a liquid substance that is used to coat surfaces to decorate, protect, or to make a surface more functional. Paint is composed of four main ingredients, pigment, binder, solvent, and additives. The pigment is a substance that is used to add color, strength, or reduce the cost of the paint. The binder adheres the components together and to the surface to which the paint is applied. The solvent makes the paint liquid for ease of application. Additives add properties to the paint, like mildew resistance. Earliest known uses of paint is from forty thousand year old cave paintings. The Ancient Egyptians also made colorful wall paintings over two thousand years ago.

Paint is as old as the history of man. History records the first paint on the walls of caves, but both paint and painting has come a long way since then.
The first paints were made from clays and plants ground into powder, and then mixed with water. The Egyptians were the first to manufacture what we call paint, some 8,000 years ago. Around 1500 B.C. both Crete and Greece produced paints. Around 400 B.C. and 400 A.D the first metallic pigments were developed. The Romans used white lead. But when Roman fell so did paint technology.
During the Middle Ages, English priests and monks began to use paints on their churches. Around 1500 A.D. the artists of Italy developed paint formulations that were held as closely guarded secrets, some remain a mystery even today.
Centuries before Europeans began to settle in the New World, the American Indians used paints for both decorative and religious purposes. They grounded rocks, leaves and bark to use the pigments for their painting. In fact the first paints produced in the U.S. in the late 1700’s were based on formulas that can from the American Indians.
It wasn’t until 1867, that the first premixed liquid paints ere manufactured and sold in this country.
Modern-day-paints were first made during World War II, to improve the way equipment and weapons surfaces were protected. The quality of previous paint just wasn’t good enough. The answer was synthetic paints. Synthetics went on faster, lasted longer and could be produced in large volume.
In the 1960’s paint made a huge leap forward. The number of pigments, dyes, additives, carriers, and application methods multiplied. As paints evolved, the methods for applying them also evolved.

Until 1972 lead, had been used in paint for centuries. In 1972 the government restricted lead content in most paint to less than one-half of one percent.
Today, hundreds of brands and types of paints are marketed by dozens of companies. Many are toxic, flammable, poisonous and reactive when used incorrectly.
Some communities have regulations that require empty paint cans to be separated from regular garbage, so they can be disposed at the hazardous dump sites.
You can expect paint manufactures to be more heavily regulated in the future as governments become more aware of the dangers associated with paint.