Scientists have developed a material so dark that you can't see it

[Ichingcarpenter]

Puritans, Goths, avant-garde artists, hell-raising poets and fashion icon Coco Chanel all saw something special in it. Now black, that most enigmatic of colours, has become even darker and more mysterious.

A British company has produced a "strange, alien" material so black that it absorbs all but 0.035 per cent of visual light, setting a new world record. To stare at the "super black" coating made of carbon nanotubes – each 10,000 times thinner than a human hair – is an odd experience. It is so dark that the human eye cannot understand what it is seeing. Shapes and contours are lost, leaving nothing but an apparent abyss.

If it was used to make one of Chanel's little black dresses, the wearer's head and limbs might appear to float incorporeally around a dress-shaped hole.

Actual applications are more serious, enabling astronomical cameras, telescopes and infrared scanning systems to function more effectively. Then there are the military uses that the material's maker, Surrey NanoSystems, is not allowed to discuss.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/blackest-is-the-new-black-scientists-have-developed-a-material-so-dark-that-you-cant-see-it-9602504.html


NINJA tanks and planes.

[In_The_Wind]

1. I'd love to wear something made of that material.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Wow! Strange stuff...nt

[dipsydoodle]

3. tanks and planes and cats.....

[lastlib]

17. Oh, my!

[hunter]

4. Monoliths...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monolith_%28Space_Odyssey%29

[longship]

6. OMG! It's full of stars! nt

[lastlib]

18. My thought, too!

GMTA!

[Scuba]

5. Unfortunately, they can no longer find it.

[Rod Beauvex]

7. Not allowed to discuss...

No doubt because it will be used illegally.

[mckara]

8. I Could See It

Back to the drawing board!

[blkmusclmachine]

9. It's just like the GOP: a gaping black chasm from which nothing can escape.

[3catwoman3]

15. Good...

...one!

[silverweb]

10. Virtual invisibility.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]There may be eventual civilian uses, but it will be strictly for stealth military applications for a long time first.

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. I can't think of a single civilian use. eom.

[Coyote_Bandit]

34. Really?

I can think of a gazillion different things artists and performers and creative types could do with this stuff.


Oooops. Sorry. I guess I forgot that such things don't add value to our society. My bad.

[1StrongBlackMan]

35. You're right ...

artist and performers can make use of this technology.

But since I am neither a performer, nor particularly creative, my mind didn't go there. Thanks for expanding my view.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. "leaving nothing but an apparent abyss"

Does it gaze back into you?

[Orrex]

13. Apparently.

[Jackpine Radical]

31. "Wenn du blickst lange in einen Abgrund,

blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein."

[Cheap_Trick]

12. How much more black could this be?

[jmowreader]

14. Cop car bodies.

[3catwoman3]

16. Fascinating...

...as Spock would say.

[yodermon]

19. ttiuwop

ok not really. but still.

[Javaman]

20. How then to they know it's there?

LOL

[packman]

21. I invented this back in the 70's

then gave up on it when I kept losing it. Sounds like Bob Newhart could have done a comedy bit on this. Imagine him holding up a sample to the patent guys trying to convince them that - "yes, really , here it is- I made this."


A classic - Sir Walter Raleigh explaining tobacco:

&feature=player_detailpage

[littlemissmartypants]

22. They will however be

Adding some bright red lace to it to make it sexy.

[littlemissmartypants]

23. Let the cloaking begin. eom

[nikto]

25. Scared of the dark? I dare ya'...

Turn out the room lights and listen for 8 minutes, if you dare...

[Half-Century Man]

26. Military uses that can't be discussed?

I'm guessing that a blanket of nanotubues which only reflect 0.035% of the visible spectrum of energy would also absorb slower frequencies in the spectrum (I can't write in scientific notation here, Google the Electromagnetic Spectrum). Current stealth works alright with modern radar, but the older long wavelength radars (WWII era and just past) clearly show stealth aircraft.
The narrow threads imply that a dense weave can be used. One where the gaps between the threads are so small, atmospheric drag would be negligible. It would feel smooth to the touch, yet still have the pockets between the threads to break up a signal. .

[BlueJazz]

27. I'd like to have a mask made of the stuff.

[DBoon]

28. Where do they store this stuff?

In a place where the sun don't shine?

[Locrian]

29. Acme's had that for *years* !!

[Ichingcarpenter]

30. PHOTO AND VIDEO Vanta Black painted on crumpled aluminum foil

Last edited Tue Jul 15, 2014, 07:59 AM - Edit history (1)

[AlbertCat]

32. "Oh god!.....

...... I dropped it!"

[heaven05]

33. the military

WILL find a useful, lethal application of this material, guaranteed. And the beat will go on.