There is a legend that Chinese silk painting wizard able to distinguish by eye up to 100 shades of black. I wonder what they would say about the new black material which has been developed by British scientists. Because he is so black that people can not even see it.
Of course, not "visible" in this case means that the material absorbs almost all the light that falls on it. It is hard to imagine, but this material really reflected only 0.035% of visible light through human eyes. Material was decided to call Vantablack, and he is honored to be the darkest material on the planet today. In fact, a new world record.
Material was created from carbon nanotubes, each of which is 10 000 times thinner than a human hair. These tubes were grown in vitro on special sheets of aluminum foil. Nanotubes are so thin that photons can hardly get to them but instead they pass into the space therebetween without being reflected back. When a person looks at this stuff, it is very difficult to describe their feelings. He does not understand what his eyes see. Shape, texture and contours are absent, leaving only a black abyss.
If from such material to sew clothes and put it on the man, the surrounding people will only see it independent of each other's head, hands and feet, and in the center - space black hole in the form of his body, absorbing almost all light.
The practical application of this material is very wide. It can be used in astronomical cameras, telescopes, infrared scanners, in order to improve their performance and image quality. Of course, the military also drew attention to this development, but of scientists from Surrey Nanosystems, create a new material, it is forbidden to talk to reporters on this subject. However, the price for the material scientists also refused to sound, limiting the phrase "it is very expensive."
Besides having unique optical properties, the new material conducts heat seven times better than copper and also has ten times better tensile strength than steel. Vantablack first time will be shown to the public as part of the British airshow in Fernboro, which will take place this week