History Main / TechnicolorScience

* As far as electronics go, it's common for gaming PCs and peripherals to have colorful lighting. Custom water-cooling setups can use colored water in the tubes.

* Even the semi-realistic ''{{lonelygirl15}}'' fell victim to this, albeit at a point when the realism was really starting to slack off.

* There are plenty of green glowing things at the nuclear power plant in ''TheSimpsons'', including Mr. Burns. In "E-I-E-I(Annoyed Grunt)" Plutonium is shown to be a glowing green instead of the real silver color, as well as a fluid instead of a solid (note that most plutonium used in the real world is in a liquid-like powdered form). A Carbon rod used to hold a door on a shuttle closed and seen in the opening is shown as a pale lime-green instead of the real life black.

* ''RickAndMorty'' in general is [[AmazingTechnicolorWorld brightly colored]] and tends to get away with this trope, especially concerning Rick's fantastic inventions and other alien technology. This makes seeing a multicolored test tube set become weirdly jarring because it seems so commonplace by comparison. Best example of this is when Doofus Rick is making ovenless brownies for Jerry.

** Though it wasn't in a vat, ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' lampshaded this when Batgirl said:

* Played straight in ''TheNuttyProfessor''. Of course, it ''was'' [[RuleOfFunny a comedy.]]

* One easy example of this trope is the "[[http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/pickle.html Electric Pickle]]" experiment, where a current passed through a pickle actually gets the pickle to glow. Though useless, it is fun to watch. The pickle's been featured in ''Series/{{CSI}}'' and ''BeakmansWorld'', to name a few instances.

* ''[[{{Earth 2150}} Earth 2140]]'' is a notable aversion of the radiation subclass. Radioactive fallout doesn't glow green -- or anything else. It's invisible, and indicated on the minimap with an overlay of black-and-white squares so you can actually tell where it is.

* [[Creator/{{Syfy}} Sci Fi Channel]] [[Film/SciFiChannelOriginalMovie original movie]] ''Megashark vs. Giant Octopus'' featured this trope in the We're Doing Science! portions. The scientists are trying to find a solution to the problem posed by, well, look at the title. This seems to involve large amounts of pouring liquids from test tubes into larger test tubes. All of these liquids are colored. What are they pouring? Why are they pouring it? Something sciency, I'm sure! Later they come up with the idea of making pheromones, so it's back to the lab! More colored chemicals are poured! Finally, success is achieved. How do they know? Because they pour two chemicals together and they change color to glowing green! Obviously, this means they have achieved shark and squid pheromones. Right?

* [[SciFiChannel Sci-fi channel]] original ''Megashark vs. Giant Octopus'' featured this trope in the We're Doing Science! portions. The scientists are trying to find a solution to the problem posed by, well, look at the title. This seems to involve large amounts of pouring liquids from test tubes into larger test tubes. All of these liquids are colored. What are they pouring? Why are they pouring it? Something sciency, I'm sure! Later they come up with the idea of making pheromones, so it's back to the lab! More colored chemicals are poured! Finally, success is achieved. How do they know? Because they pour two chemicals together and they change color to glowing green! Obviously, this means they have achieved shark and squid pheromones. Right?

** [[AudienceParticipation YELLOW MOONS, GREEN CLOVERS, BLUE DIAMONDS, AND PURPLE HORSESHOES!]]
*** [[AudienceParticipation "Taste the rainbow!"]]

* The chemistry set in ''TheSims'' yields potions of various bright colors.

** Salvatore, it should be mentioned, wasn't making this up. Such pools of acid, along with [[ConvectionShmonvection oddly retiring lava]], were staples of the ForgottenRealms Underdark campaign setting he'd been comissioned to write for.

Electronics are not exempt from this either- high-tech machines will often be covered with pretty but seemingly pointless blinking LED lights (which old-school computer types refer to as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinkenlights das Blinkenlights]]"), glass pipes full of glowing energy, and meaningless screens displaying bright symbols. Modern technology, especially [[IncrediblyObviousBomb things]] that need to be [[IncrediblyObviousBug covert]], don't usually have these; with the exception of [=MP3=] players.

* "Electrons are blue". Anything with free electrons whizzing about is bright blue.

* As far as electronics go, it's common for gaming PCs and peripherals to have colourful lighting. Custom water-cooling setups can use coloured water in the tubes.

* ''VideoGame/TimeSplitters: Future Perfect'' plays this for laughs - in one level Cortez and Harry Tipper are trapped in a room filling with green gas, and Tipper comments that green gas is the worst kind.

-->-- RunningGag from the movie review website ''Cold Fusion Video''

* In an episode of ''JustShootMe'', Maya gets covered in ToxicWaste while in the sewers and is later found to glow green in the dark. The chemicals are specifically described as "phosphates," none of which have this property in real life.

* Subverted subtly in ''TheBigBangTheory'' when Leonard walks into the kitchen to find Sheldon working with beakers full of colored liquid. Turns out he was using flavored Jell-o to make growth media for bacteria.

* ''Series/TheITCrowd'''s Richmond has no idea what those machines are that he looks after, nor what the flashing lights mean.

* ''RickAndMorty'' in general is [[AmazingTechnicolorWorld brightly colored]] and tends to get away with this trope, especially concerning Rick's fantastic inventions and other alien technology. This makes seeing a multicolored test tube set become weirdly jarring, because it seems so commonplace by comparison. Best example of this is when Doofus Rick is making ovenless brownies for Jerry.

* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the movie adaptation of Creator/StephenKing's ''{{Thinner}}'', where a gypsy is threatened with a glass of acid that is actually clear.

* The third season premiere of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', almost in the same breath as NinetyPercentOfYourBrain

[[caption-width-right:350:Just an ordinary day at Crayola research and development.]]

[[quoteright:295:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chemistry_set.bmp]]
[[caption-width-right:295:Oooh! ''Shiny!'']]

-->--RunningGag from the movie review website ''Cold Fusion Video''

** ''MightAndMagic''

* One of R.A. Salvatore's [[TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt]] novels prominently featured a ''giant green glowing pool of acid'' sitting in a cave for no reason. Walking above it was perfectly safe, but fall in and you instantly dissolved.