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Here's what happens when you shine a laser on the blackest material ever made — Parallax Forums

Here's what happens when you shine a laser on the blackest material ever made

Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
edited 2016-03-09 12:49 in General Discussion
Video at:

http://www.businessinsider.com/shine-laser-on-vantablack-disappears-2016-3

This new material is so black, scientists can't even measure it. In fact, it barely reflects any light at all.
This is a highly unusual property for most substances. Normally, when you shine a laser on a material, you can see the light from the laser drift across it as it reflects back at you.

This is how our eyes can see the colors that make up the world around us.

But when engineers from British company Surrey NanoSystems trace a laser over the blackest material ever, the light disappears.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-somehow-made-world-darkest-212547256.html

The resulting material is so dark that if Vantablack is grown on a crumpled piece of aluminum foil, it works like an optical illusion to make your eye think it is a perfectly flat surface.

Comments

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Truly a dark day. Thanks for shining the light on this, Captain Ron!
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,566
    Wouldn't they be able to use an electronic version of something analogous to a "Crookes radiometer" coated with the Vantablack material to get a baseline light absorption measurement? To claim "This new material is so black, scientists can't even measure it" seems a little shallow in terms of not being able to think outside the box.
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    Aha! A black hole might actually just some vantablack material floating in space ;)
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    Our daughters painted the front door recently. Wish we'd know about vantablack.





  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    So, if you painted the wall, floor and ceiling of a room with this stuff when you switch the light on it would seem that all the people and objects in the room were floating in the black void of deep space.

    That would be great to see. Or not see, if you see what I mean.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2016-03-12 23:33
    Heater. wrote: »
    So, if you painted the wall, floor and ceiling of a room with this stuff when you switch the light on it would seem that all the people and objects in the room were floating in the black void of deep space.

    That would be great to see. Or not see, if you see what I mean.


    No more green screen and errors therefrom!



    Sorry, but this related fail video has some serious mayhem, even a robot fail at 5:50. Also some serious language.



  • SeairthSeairth Posts: 2,474
    Heater. wrote: »
    So, if you painted the wall, floor and ceiling of a room with this stuff when you switch the light on it would seem that all the people and objects in the room were floating in the black void of deep space.

    That would be great to see. Or not see, if you see what I mean.

    Wow! That would be some hard core black box theatre!
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