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posted by martyb on Sunday September 01 2019, @12:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-would-it-look-like-using-nightvision-goggles? dept.

The first car painted with the world's "blackest black" is deeply unsettling

It's hard to describe Vantablack, the world's darkest black pigment, without seeing it for yourself. First developed for use in light-sensitive aerospace components (and infamously licensed for artistic use solely by sculptor Anish Kapoor), the pigment uses tiny carbon nanotubes to absorb up to 99.965% of light striking its surface. At Google's top secret materials lab, I recently gazed upon a sample of Vantablack in real life for the first time. It almost broke my brain. It has no reflection, no contours. It's like part of the world has been Photoshopped away. Stare at it long enough, and it feels like your soul is being sucked out of your eyeballs.

I couldn't imagine any everyday object being painted in Vantablack, let alone one that can move at 90 miles per hour. But at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September, the auto manufacturer will be displaying a one-off BMW X6 painted in Vantablack.

Even in photos, the effect is pronounced. The car itself appears two-dimensional. Only details like the tires, grill, and windows offer visual cues as to the true shape of the car—though in many images, those components simply seem to be floating in space.

Why A BMW Painted With 'The World's Blackest Black' Is Unlikely To Hit The Road

Chief critic: Auto enthusiasts. They question why a car needs to be painted with vantablack, especially since it won't be for sale anytime soon. And safety studies show that regular black cars are already more dangerous to drive over lighter-colored cars⁠—chances [DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2010.05.001] [DX] of crashing a black car at dawn and dusk are 47% higher than that of a non-black car.

Don't forget bird poop and the effects of the Sun on an object that reflects almost no light.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 01 2019, @01:59PM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 01 2019, @01:59PM (#888473) Journal

    Helmets are optional in most states anyway. And, a helmet isn't going to save anyone's life at high speed. Note that "highway speed" and "high speed" are not synonymous. A helmet might save your life at highway speed, not at high speed.

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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by jelizondo on Sunday September 01 2019, @04:41PM

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Sunday September 01 2019, @04:41PM (#888516) Journal

    A friend in the police forensic department always told me: "A helmet in a motorcycle crash makes a difference: an open-casket or a closed-casket funeral."

    But dead you are...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 14 2019, @07:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 14 2019, @07:33PM (#894124)

    Often stuff slows down from high speed before the actual collisions... Also many people can still get broken skulls if they fall and hit their heads on something hard, even if the vehicle was at 0 kph.

    That said, maybe bike helmets should only be compulsory after the bikers have children (whether born or not yet). ;)