Discussion Zone: => General Chat => Topic started by: Flashwerewolf on January 15, 2008, 12:36:55 AM
Title: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: Flashwerewolf on January 15, 2008, 12:36:55 AM
(http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/6677/1200372026659vd2.jpg) Jan. 14, 2008, 5:34PM A dark discovery — no, really, this stuff is dark By ERIC BERGER CoIn the iconic movie This is Spinal Tap, lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel said of his band's black album cover, "It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black."
He was wrong.
A scientist at Rice University has created the darkest material known to man, a carpet of carbon nanotubes that reflects only 0.045 percent of all light shined upon it. That's four times darker than the previously darkest known substance, and more than 100 times darker than the paint on a black Corvette.
"The final numbers, when we measured how dark this material was, were more dramatic than we thought," said Pulickel M. Ajayan, a professor of engineering at Rice University who led the team that developed the substance.
The work was published last week in the journal Nano Letters.
Pure carbon is one of nature's darkest materials, as is clear to anyone who has seen charred organic materials such as wood.
But to further darken their material the scientists had to make the surface even rougher, to enhance the scattering of light. They struck upon a carpet-like arrangement of nanotubes standing on their ends.
The nanotubes, so named because they are tiny, are made solely of carbon atoms. Hollow cylinders with thin walls, the nanotubes used by Ajayan measure about one-hundredth of an inch long. They are very narrow, however, as their length is about 300,000 times their width.
It took more than a year of careful experimentation to determine that such a small fraction of light is reflected by this carpet-like forest of nanotubes, Ajayan said.
The previous record-holder was an alloy of nickel and phosphorus pitted with tiny craters developed in 2003 by researchers at the National Physical Laboratory in London. The material reflected about 0.16 percent of light shined upon it.Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: black death on January 15, 2008, 12:45:30 AM
man, that shit is BLACK
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: Flashwerewolf on January 15, 2008, 12:53:28 AM
Its the true Black MEtal [drum]
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: black death on January 15, 2008, 12:57:56 AM
OH YEAH! ROCK OWN[boohoo]
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: Nocturnous on January 15, 2008, 07:54:48 PM
? what about dark matter
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: Tomp45 on January 15, 2008, 08:03:12 PM
Yeah dark dark stuff...
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: Flashwerewolf on January 15, 2008, 10:37:12 PM
I don't believe dark matter is a metal.
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: BluePenguinPJs on January 15, 2008, 11:42:38 PM
Yey for chemistry!
(just got out of chem class)
Title: Re: Darkest Material Known To Man...
Post by: Nocturnous on January 16, 2008, 02:19:20 AM