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This has bugged me for a while. I've noticed that a lot of people paint their plasma minis with a blue glow to them, but I've always imagined it purple. I don't know if this is because something I read somewhere suggested it was, or because my brain has a dumb. Is there an 'official' statement as to what color plasma happens to be in the 40k universe, or, if it is multiple colors, why one plasma gun might fire blue bolts and the next green (or whatever)?

It really doesn't matter as plasma could just about be any color.

I think all the "official" pics show the plasma weapons glowing blue.

I was working with a plasma cutter during a holiday job and it was bright white with a blueish touch. Nevertheless I paint my plasma green

Well there is no single answer if we want to try and be as precise as possible.
Considering that the term "plasma" actually refers to matter heated on such high temperature that creates a glowing "cloud' of air we then can proceed and safely tell that it does not have a distinctive colour.
The colour would depend on the type of the gass and the temperature, so can your plasma guns/cannons/pistols be virtually any colour you desire.
just like some gasses that when heated give us white,pale white,yellow etc etc light and that is how lamps work

Those things on the plasma weaponry are charge coils, not a plasma itself (which is just white). They glow to indicate weapon charge and heat, but mostly because it's cool - reasonable coils would be hidden and maybe ever armored or at least screened. Art tend to portray imperial charge coils glowing blue, sometimes aquamarine or green - no one know what any of these colors mean if they mean anything at all. Chaos coils usually glow red, orange or purple. I can theorize that it is because chaos plasma have some different pattern, but in fact it is obviously only because "our plasma is EEEVUL so it would glow with EEEVUL color"

 Mezmerro wrote:
Those things on the plasma weaponry are charge coils, not a plasma itself (which is just white). They glow to indicate weapon charge and heat, but mostly because it's cool - reasonable coils would be hidden and maybe ever armored or at least screened. Art tend to portray imperial charge coils glowing blue, sometimes aquamarine or green - no one know what any of these colors mean if they mean anything at all. Chaos coils usually glow red, orange or purple. I can theorize that it is because chaos plasma have some different pattern, but in fact it is obviously only because "our plasma is EEEVUL so it would glow with EEEVUL color"

So we're going with lightsaber theory here? Good enough for me.

I'd always thought it was based on the element that was made into plasma, my plasma is blue because in my mind the y use vanadium (IV), no real reason other than it's the same as lothern blue

That was my assumption also, that it depends on the ionized base gas.

In the old "How to Paint Space Marines" book plasma was done up green. And that's when I started, so mine end up green

Green onez wound better

If you just go by energy and what you can see coming at you (visible spectrum) it makes sense for plasma to be blue. It is just that high in energy. "Red" plasma wouldn't make a lot of sense because it would be a lot lower in energy and therefore the plasma should be not as lethal. Or as capable of melting face.

The thing on top of a plasma gun is a heat sink. It's only correct color is steel colored. If you want to make it glowey, then the only correct glow color is orange, but if you're doing this, you're painting a mini that's in the very middle of getting killed by the plasma gun overheating, which is bad luck.

As for the plasma bolts themselves, no, there isn't an official color. I always imagined it more of a cyan color, myself, like lightning.

Gas- What colour?
Liquid- What colour?
Solid- What colour?

A nice list of plasma colours here:

http://www.plasma.de/en/glossary/glossary-entry-486.html

CF4: blue
SF6: white blue
SiF4: light blue
SiCl4: light blue
Cl2: whitish green
CCl4: whitish green
H2: pink
O2: pale yellow
N2: red to yellow
Br2: reddish
He: red to violet
Ne: brick red
Ar: dark red

On this basis most Imperial patterns use Sodium Hexafluoride, while Chaos patterns use Neon or Argon

 Ailaros wrote:
The thing on top of a plasma gun is a heat sink. It's only correct color is steel colored. If you want to make it glowey, then the only correct glow color is orange, but if you're doing this, you're painting a mini that's in the very middle of getting killed by the plasma gun overheating, which is bad luck.

As for the plasma bolts themselves, no, there isn't an official color. I always imagined it more of a cyan color, myself, like lightning.

True, but Rule of Cool trumps real world accuracy!

 Flinty wrote:
A nice list of plasma colours here:

http://www.plasma.de/en/glossary/glossary-entry-486.html

CF4: blue
SF6: white blue
SiF4: light blue
SiCl4: light blue
Cl2: whitish green
CCl4: whitish green
H2: pink
O2: pale yellow
N2: red to yellow
Br2: reddish
He: red to violet
Ne: brick red
Ar: dark red

On this basis most Imperial patterns use Sodium Hexafluoride, while Chaos patterns use Neon or Argon

I always pictured it as blue, and that was knowing full well that different gas plasmas would be different colours. Henceforth I shall be using H2 plasma, if only because the idea of using pink plasma weaponry kind of makes me chuckle...

I used to go blue for Loyalists, purple for Chaos. Now they're all blue, because I liked it better. I've seen green plasma in other armies that looked pretty good too.

Everything important said about plasma has been said already - it really can be any colour you want it to be. Loyalist forces tend to use blue or green plasma weaponry, while some chaos forces I've seen use red or purple. Heck I've seen a Tzeench themed CSM force with a pink plasma gun! . Personally this is why I enjoy painting plasma so much - perfect for OSL (which I can't do yet ) and for the painter to splash any mad colour he/she wants on it.

What's the most widely available resource in the galaxy? Hydrogen.
What colour is hydrogen plasma? Pink.
Therefore, logically, most plasma weapons should fire pink plasma. Super manly pink plasma.

 Flinty wrote:
A nice list of plasma colours here:

http://www.plasma.de/en/glossary/glossary-entry-486.html

CF4: blue
SF6: white blue
SiF4: light blue
SiCl4: light blue
Cl2: whitish green
CCl4: whitish green
H2: pink
O2: pale yellow
N2: red to yellow
Br2: reddish
He: red to violet
Ne: brick red
Ar: dark red

On this basis most Imperial patterns use Sodium Hexafluoride, while Chaos patterns use Neon or Argon

I think you mean Sulfur Hexafluoride

 Ailaros wrote:
The thing on top of a plasma gun is a heat sink. It's only correct color is steel colored. If you want to make it glowey, then the only correct glow color is orange, but if you're doing this, you're painting a mini that's in the very middle of getting killed by the plasma gun overheating, which is bad luck.

Bahaha. If I ever run Imperial Guard? I'm going to do just this.

 Krellnus wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
A nice list of plasma colours here:

http://www.plasma.de/en/glossary/glossary-entry-486.html

CF4: blue
SF6: white blue
SiF4: light blue
SiCl4: light blue
Cl2: whitish green
CCl4: whitish green
H2: pink
O2: pale yellow
N2: red to yellow
Br2: reddish
He: red to violet
Ne: brick red
Ar: dark red

On this basis most Imperial patterns use Sodium Hexafluoride, while Chaos patterns use Neon or Argon

I think you mean Sulfur Hexafluoride

D'oh... I do indeed good sir. Stupid s-element blindness

Also with SF6 in your gun it stops you from getting electrocuted... kinda. The stuff is used as an insulating gas in pressurised HV switchgear. Ok random-fact-o-tron is off now...

Guess who just had a conversation about this very thread and stupidly said 'real men fire pink weapons'?

It may take a while to live this one down...

In dawn of war Chaos plasma was Red/Purple/Pink ish... And ''good guy'' Imperial plasma was blue,, as it was with Tau...

I did mine green from instinct. Red marines and trying to find a colour for plasma coils from a choice of bright reds, blues, greens found your nose and my instinctive choice was green, without knowledge of any colour theory or whatever.

I still did it with my (Red) CSM Lord from DV, but if I get a Forgefiend the Ectoplasm Cannons will be red/yellow.

For Tau weaponry I think its usually depicted as blue in some way?

In all the books and fluff I have read it varys so your colors are yours mine would be red or yellow

Grndhog89 wrote:
If you just go by energy and what you can see coming at you (visible spectrum) it makes sense for plasma to be blue. It is just that high in energy. "Red" plasma wouldn't make a lot of sense because it would be a lot lower in energy and therefore the plasma should be not as lethal. Or as capable of melting face.

But the compensating factor is that "Red onez go fasta!"

 Grimaldus99 wrote:
Green onez wound better

So would red ones shoot faster and be twin-linked.