Spinal Tap's "none blacker" theory SHATTERED: "Scientists Create a Black That Erases All Light"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery
Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902617.html?nav=rss_email/components

Black is getting blacker.

Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.

The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons -- light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a dizzying sensation of nothingness.

"It's very deep, like in a forest on the darkest night," said Shawn-Yu Lin, a scientist who helped create the material at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Nothing comes back to you. It's very, very, very dark."

[JackintheGreen]

1. Oh no! I've lost my faith!!!

I had my daughter enrolled in a school that taught a Spinal Tap-based science curriculum. If they were wrong about this, where else have they lead me astray. Oh David St. Hubbins! Why have you forsaken me!

[Cabcere]

10. Personally, I blame Ian Faith.

Good, solid piece of wood in hand or not, that man is not to be trusted! :P

[Dr. Strange]

15. You should have seen what he originally wanted to put on the material!

[Cabcere]

19. Look, I was holding back on telling you this, because

I didn't know what Sir Dennis' decision was gonna be, but the fact is that Sears and K-mart have already refused to carry the material.

[Dr. Strange]

23. That old one, huh?

If the company is behind this material it can shove it right down their throats.

[Cabcere]

24. Money talks, and bullshit walks.

If the first material had been a hit, THEN we could've pushed this one. THEN we could've forced them to put this material out on the shelves.

[Dr. Strange]

25. The material....

every cut of this material is a hit.

[quip]

31. I don’t give a shit what the album’s....

[Dr. Strange]

33. It's a matter of compromise.

We made a joke material, and it was a long time ago, they’re making it like a big deal.

[quip]

35. That’s true. You know, if we’re serious and we said “yes she should be forced to smell the glove"

then you’d have a point you know but it’s all a joke, isn’t it, we’re making fun of that sort of thing.

[Richard Steele]

2. So, how long until I can get a suit made from this stuff?

Dick want.

[lurky]

22. Me too!

That would be so cool!
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[lapfog_1]

3. Energy got to go somewhere

does this material convert all that light into heat? Re-radiate in the thermal bands?

If so, depending on how cheaply it can be made, this might be one of the discoveries of the century (as far as solar collectors go).

[TCJ70]

4. I think it just goes into the deep nothingness...

...that comprises the blackest of the black.

[NoodleyAppendage]

5. BING. BING. BING. We have a winner.

I suspect they were not creating this material just to be cool, but had that very idea in mind. I'm sure the military can put it to good use (meaning involved somehow in killing), too.

J

[lapfog_1]

16. Well, it wouldn't make an effective killing device

but it makes for one DANDY cloaking device.

But read the article ref'd in the OP and see the other stuff they are using to make even better cloaking devices (because simply absorbing the light would still be easy to detect... when looking at the cloaked object you won't anything... even the stuff behind the cloaked object).

BUT... for solar heating application you can think of this...

A bank of glass tubes (like long florescent tubes, but clear)... each sealed at both ends and a vacuum is created within (to prevent heat transfer). down the center of each tub you run a metal pipe wrapped in this super-black material. You pipe in water or some other heat transfer liquid... and, presto, out of the end of some number of connected tubes you have a)hot water for your shower or for base board heating or b) you have steam which you can use to turn a turbine.

Now you arrange the tubes in an array, and place them in front of long channels of a reflective surface (aluminum or similar) where the channel is parabolic with the focus on the inner metal tube.

ALL light that hits your array is effectively captured and turned into heat (well, quite a bit of it!).

[Yukari Yakumo]

17. Read the linked article, they are.

They're eying this as a potential basis for cloaking technology and holodeck technology.

[TCJ70]

28. I wouldn't mind having a holodeck...

...as long as the safety protocols didn't malfunction every couple months.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. "does this material convert all that light into heat?" Pretty much.

"Re-radiate in the thermal bands?"

That'd likely be a very ineffecient process.

"If so, depending on how cheaply it can be made, this might be one of the discoveries of the century (as far as solar collectors go)."

Seriously unlikely.

[lapfog_1]

27. so where does the heat go?

if not radiated in the infrared?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. Uh...

I'd presume the same place where all heat goes when not radiated in the infrared... converted to molecular motion and conducted away.

[lapfog_1]

42. Yeah, that's what I thought

and if you wrapped this around a, say, copper pipe and ran water through it, wouldn't you get a lot of heat transfer to the water?

[annabanana]

6. I'm sure it's already in production. .

destined to clothe NYers from head to toe.

[GoneOffShore]

9. Not New Yorkers

Parisians.

They'll be the first to buy clothes made of it. "Night is the new black."

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. Additional research will find traces of it in Bush's brain.....

emptier than empty, gives on a dizzying sensation watching it in action!

[phantom power]

8. spinal tap totally knew about this stuff. back in the day.

[Cabcere]

13. Totally.

I think they edited some light back into the Smell The Glove album covers in the film, to keep it a secret. Looks like DiBergi did something right after all! ;)

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

11. "Absorbs" would be a far better word. Maybe, the DOD will simply "disappear".

And never come back.

They are willing to play with the unknown in order to hold power over the earth. If they get sucked into it, so be it.

Of course, only the "enlisted" will disappear.

There IS evil in this world. It's not a mythical "devil".

[Dr. Strange]

12. With all due respect to Shawn-Yu Lin...

I think he's rationalizing this whole thing into something he did on purpose. I think we’re stuck with a very, very stupid and a very dismal looking material, this is depressing. This is something you wear around your arm, you don’t put this on your fucking turntable.

[Cabcere]

14. I bet it looks like death.

But then again, every movie in every cinema is about death. Death SELLS.

[quip]

29. Well, I frankly think that this is the turning point, okay? I think, I think this is...

we’re on our way now! :hi:

[Dr. Strange]

34. I agree, I agree...

[quip]

36. It’s time, time to kick arse!

[melody]

18. I wonder why they see black as nothingness ... in some cultures, it amounts to all colors

It may, in fact, be a great density of "somethingness".

I must not lose my faith in Spinal Tap, you see. lol

[DemoTex]

20. I just hope Shawn-Yu Lin doesn't let that shit out of its bottle.

Know what I mean, Vern?

[complain jane]

26. I discovered this already years ago.

It came in the form of my ex. It sucked every atom of light and life out of the universe for 4 months from right here in north Jersey.

[quip]

32. What next???? Rock and Roll that goes up to 12????

:shrug:

[Cabcere]

38. Try infinity.

Joe Satriani couldn't handle it...can you? ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgFEzk2VRXM

[quip]

41. Nigel was confused (as usual)

The max volume is currently "20": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwuZePiQHLI&feature=related

[leftofthedial]

37. if it absorbs 99.955% of light and is 30 times darker than standard black,

does that mean that the previous standard for black only absorbed 3.3% of light?

hmmm.

[slackmaster]

39. Imagine trying to keep something that color dusted

What a fucking nightmare!

[NoPasaran]

40. But it still blazes like the Sun if placed next to Dick Cheney's heart