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A material so dark that you can't see it...


seeder

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Blackest is the new black: Scientists have developed a material so dark that you can't see it...

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.

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

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How do you find it?

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The articles description was totally weird. Imagine you scrunch up a shirt and look at it, you can see all the scrunches/folds/wrinkles..

But with this...you see nothing,...no scrunches/folds/wrinkles.. just an apparent black hole :cry:

.

Edited by seeder
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Human eye sight has a limited range , it also has limited sound perception. ultimate darkness is being in a cave underground when your light goes out.

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The articles description was totally weird. Imagine you scrunch up a shirt and look at it, you can see all the scrunches/folds/wrinkles..

But with this...you see nothing,...no scrunches/folds/wrinkles.. just an apparent black hole :cry:

.

This is great news.....no more ironing. :w00t:

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I so want to see this...! On a slightly related note, on my dashboard top I have cut and fitted some black velvet - I just cannot fathom how people put up with all the reflections that you get on many cars - they even shine up the plastic/vinyl/whatever to make it worse - eurgh. And there are some cars here in Oz (Hi Ford!) that have bright, highly reflective burnished aluminum panels that in sunshine, glare back at you from the inside of the windscreen - what were the designers thinking?..

Anyway, I can recommend the black velvet trick if you like a crystal clear view out the front of your car.. trouble is, it slowly fades to a golden brown so I redo it every six months or so..

Something tells me I won't be able to afford these carbon nano-tubes...

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Human eye sight has a limited range , it also has limited sound perception. ultimate darkness is being in a cave underground when your light goes out.

What is the human eye's sound perception?
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Yey! i can finally be invinsible at night!

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Yey! i can finally be invinsible at night!

You probably could too, on a very dark background, maybe thats a reason the military are interested, some sort of camo?

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The material must make for an exceptionally formal attire.

Harte

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How do you find it?

By taste.

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By taste.

What does black taste like? :lol:

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By taste.

I missed the bit where it says it is made out of latex. Does it come in different colours / flavours or just liquorish?

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What does black taste like? :lol:

Some kind similar to quite noises. :lol:

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Imagine sleep masks made out of this! (Among zillions of other things) No detectable light from it

.

Edited by seeder
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There's really nothing new here.

After all, plenty of people at U-M have been using this same material for years - on their blinders.

Harte

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It's perfect if you want to hide something inside the black-ness...if it's also painted black.

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Finally! Some decent black-out curtains for my windows!

Also, where can I get a shirt, belt, pants, socks and shoes made from the stuff?!

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You probably could too, on a very dark background, maybe thats a reason the military are interested, some sort of camo?

on a very black background is quite useless since there aren't really any 'very' black backgrounds and i do think their interested because at night the soliders would practically be invisible as well as rockets, Ammo and Jet fighters. Edited by Calle
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on a very black background is quite useless since there aren't really any 'very' black backgrounds and i do think their interested because at night the soliders would practically be invisible as well as rockets, Ammo and Jet fighters.

I didnt say on a very black background, did I? I said very dark... like in the forest.. even ordinary camo can make you disappear in forests

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I didnt say on a very black background, did I? I said very dark... like in the forest.. even ordinary camo can make you disappear in forests

yeah sorry, just assumed O.o
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