TWSB: Blacker than the Blackest Black Times Infinity (Part II)
I did a post quite a while ago on super black material, but it looks like they’ve recently come up with something that’s even blacker.
Surrey NanoSystems, a British company, have improved their Vantablack material so that it absorbs more than 99.96% of the light that hit it—more than their original Vantablack, which had first been created in 2014. In fact, the new material absorbs so much light that scientists are unable to measure exactly how black the material is. You can shine a laser pointer onto it and the laser seems to disappear.
Vantablack is made by packing carbon nanotubes so tightly together that light can get in but can’t escape. Here’s a crumpled up piece of aluminum foil painted with Vantablack.
Freaky, huh?
TWSB: BLACKER THAN THE BLACKEST BLACK TIMES INFINITY
Oh, NASA.
NASA’s telescopes and cameras in space require the use of a super black paint dubbed Z306 in order to reduce photon contamination by absorbing erratic light that ricochets off the instrument components.
However, Z306 is apparently not black enough, as NASA scientists have been working towards and have finally developed a new material that is like 10 times blacker than Z306 and is made of carbon nanotubes grown on titanium. The big breakthrough here, aside from the DARKNESS THAT IS THE NEW BLACK, is the fact that the scientists were able to develop a material that would allow the nanotubes to stick effectively to it, therefore reducing the risk of them scratching off under wear.
You can read more about it here. Sounds pretty snazzy, if you ask me.
Today’s song: Creep by Scala & Kolacny Brothers
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