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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.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Reziac on Monday September 02 2019, @02:58AM
Ah, maybe that's where I went wrong... not enough dirt...
I used to have a truck painted in Ford Puke Green. (That awful mint color they only used in 77-79-79, cuz they almost couldn't give 'em away.) You could never accuse it of being invisible... except in Long Beach. Long Beach had lately installed these hideous bright yellow sodium street lights. One very late night I was among the last to leave the Long Beach Convention Center. The parking lot was empty. Where the hell is my truck? I don't see it anywhere. So I started walking in the remembered direction -- and damn near walked into it.
Turns out Ford Puke Green is completely invisible under bright yellow sodium lights. As in it looks like it's not there, and the only way you can tell it's something is cuz what's behind it is blocked from sight. Was very weird to drive away with my hood looking like it wasn't there. Hoped to hell no one came barreling along and ran into me before I left the city of invisibleness. Never went to Long Beach in the dark again.
[And it wasn't just me. Asked the lot guard, do you see my truck? and he looks around and says... nope.]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.