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Scientists invent "Vantablack", the blackest black ever, so black it looks like a black hole

Martiano said:
Psychological warfare via coating riot troops with this material. The future will be a terrible place we will not want to live through.


Envy the dead when the voidtroops come for their quota.
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But it doesn't work well with organic meatbags such as ourselves so we're forced to make them terminator robots.
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i accidentally made it scarier.:confused:
 
Have we found a suitable material to make the Coat of Midnight out of?

Yes, it looks perfect for that edgy Light Novel protagonist.
 
99.965% isn't real black damnit, it's just very dark grey. Totally false advertising.


Okay, for a really silly question because I've never studied physics much and the notion amuses me, what would happen if you bombarded this black thing with like mega-death lasers or the like?

Would armor made out of it reduce all damage from incoming laser weapons by 99.965%?
 
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99.965% light absorption is blacker than your monitor or television set can ever be. It's blacker than black paint or black ink for that matter.

And if shot by a laser beam, it will burn or vapourise. To reduce the damage, you need to reflect the light back, or deflect it away.
 
Shadell said:
99.965% isn't real black damnit, it's just very dark grey. Totally false advertising.


Okay, for a really silly question because I've never studied physics much and the notion amuses me, what would happen if you bombarded this black thing with like mega-death lasers or the like?

Would armor made out of it reduce all damage from incoming laser weapons by 99.965%?
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No, it would actually be pretty horrible to get hit with a laser while armoring with this.
 
dragonkid11 said:
The armor will absorb almost 100% of the heat energy.Against laser weapon,you will be WAY more safer if you are completely butt naked.
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And there is the problem. What's the thing you don't want with lasers?

Oh yes, absorbing the heat energy.

So, this would actually be worse than being completely butt naked. At least then, my white butt would actually reflect some of it away.
 
Richardson said:
And there is the problem. What's the thing you don't want with lasers?

Oh yes, absorbing the heat energy.

So, this would actually be worse than being completely butt naked. At least then, my white butt would actually reflect some of it away.
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There's also the fact that wearing a 'armor' that is blacker than black is enough for the enemy to go full on mook effect and generally vapourise you off the surface of the world without hesitation.

At the very least,tactical usage of white smooth naked butt is enough to distract the enemy for a few seconds.Chances will also be much higher considering most people tend to have the rather plain but normal butt fetish.

......

Erm.....

Forget what I said just now.
 
That said vantablack only absorbs 99.965% of the visible spectrum, its unspecified how much it absorbs outside that. Speaking of, any hypothetical material that could absorb 99.965% of the majority of the spectrum might be very useful, for radiation shielding, for insulation, possibly even outright energy production, as well as stealth for spacecraft. Assuming it doesn't just burn up on exposure to anything...
 
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firefossil said:
That said vantablack only absorbs 99.965% of the visible spectrum, its unspecified how much it absorbs outside that. Speaking of, any hypothetical material that could absorb 99.965% of the majority of the spectrum might be very useful, for radiation shielding, for insulation, possibly even outright energy production, as well as stealth for spacecraft. Assuming it doesn't just burn up on exposure to anything...
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There is no stealth in space unless you're hiding behind something much bigger than you are. Anything warmer than a couple degrees above absolute zero is going to show up like a beacon in the infrared spectrum.
 
I don't want to try that coating. I have little wish to see if a car parked under the sun can get hot enough to ignite its own fuel... Or melt the rubber and singe the leather on the inside.
 
Somebody said:
Have we found a suitable material to make the Coat of Midnight out of?

Yes, it looks perfect for that edgy Light Novel protagonist.
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Well, a virtual world engaged via direct neural stimulation can have colours impossible in reality anyway. You could make the Coat of Midnight blacker than 0 light, in fact.

firefossil said:
That said vantablack only absorbs 99.965% of the visible spectrum, its unspecified how much it absorbs outside that. Speaking of, any hypothetical material that could absorb 99.965% of the majority of the spectrum might be very useful, for radiation shielding, for insulation, possibly even outright energy production, as well as stealth for spacecraft. Assuming it doesn't just burn up on exposure to anything...
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frostgiant said:
It would be a bitch to shoot at something covered in that stuff up in space.
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Nope. A perfect blackbody (which this is) still emits radiation. It doesn't reflect starlight, but it will emit its own thermal radiation.

For stealth, a perfect specular reflector (the exact opposite of this material) would probably be better. That would at least contain the ship's own radiation signature, and you'd have to be at a precise angle to see starlight reflected from it. Of course, you'd also cook in your own heat since it's not being emitted into space.
 
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