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Have you ever wondered what the blackest thing on Earth could be? Is it a deep-sea creature or a man-made material? In the world of science and technology, the pursuit of the darkest substances has led to some fascinating discoveries. Let's delve into the mystery of ultra black and explore the wonders it holds.
Imagine a $2 million diamond that seems to vanish before your eyes. This isn't magic; it's science. Coated with a nano material that makes light almost disappear, this diamond becomes invisible under bright illumination. The substance responsible for this effect is the blackest material created by humans.
But is it the blackest thing on Earth? A certain bird might beg to differ. In the realm of blackness, there are varying degrees and sources, from the blackest paint to the ultra-black feathers of deep-sea birds. What makes something truly black? It's the ability to stop light from reaching your eyes, and some materials are better at this than others.
Ultra black materials have practical applications ranging from enhancing telescope performances to improving solar panels and creating radar-tricking camouflage. For years, scientists, engineers, and even artists have raced to create the darkest black, drawing inspiration from nature.
Deep in the ocean, mysterious creatures like anglerfish, dragonfish, and fangtooths have evolved to be almost entirely black. surviving in the dark waters by absorbing nearly every bit of stray light that hits them. Their skin pigments are densely packed, allowing them to stay unseen in their environment.
Karen Osborne, a scientist at the Smithsonian, studies these deep-sea organisms out of pure curiosity. She explains that these fish have skin pigments built like nothing else on Earth. The pigment granules in their skin are so dense that any light not immediately absorbed by one bit of pigment bounces sideways into a neighboring bit, much like a sticky sponge for light.
To be considered ultra black, a material must reflect less than 0.5% of the light that hits it. These deep-sea fish come incredibly close to this threshold, absorbing almost every photon that reaches them. Their unique pigmentation could inspire new ways for us to hide things, perhaps even leading to the development of biotech, recombinant deep-sea fish pigments.
Humans have created materials that are even blacker than the deepest black fish. In 2014, scientists discovered that tiny forests of carbon nanotubes could be used to make ultra-black materials. Unlike pigments, which absorb light, these nanotubes trap light in molecular cages, preventing photons from escaping.
The blackest carbon nanotube coating developed by MIT engineers traps 99.995% of light, making it almost impossible to see shapes and depth. This technology made the $2 million diamond disappear, but it's not widely applicable due to the elaborate processes required to lay down these nano coatings, making them more expensive.
Interestingly, nature has been using nanotechnology to create ultra-black materials for millions of years before humans. Birds of paradise, found in the archipelago of Papua, New Guinea, have some of the blackest feathers ever seen in a living thing. Unlike deep-sea fish, these birds use their ultra-black feathers to get noticed, not for camouflage.
During their mating displays, these birds hold up their feathers in a way that arranges the blackest black next to the brightest iridescence, tricking the visual system and making it impossible to determine the true brightness of the bright areas. The structure of these feathers is like velvet, with little fuzzy bits that stick up and scatter light in nanostructures, trapping about 99.95% of it.
Nature's nanotech has inspired humans to create our own, leading to advancements in photography, energy harnessing, and camouflage. The quest for the blackest black continues, and who knows what we'll discover next? Ultimately, making something totally and completely black may only be possible at the extremes of physics and spacetime.
Stay curious and keep exploring the wonders of the blackest materials on Earth. Thank you for joining us on this journey into the darkness.
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