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Black and White and Pigment free make up

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  • 08-04-2009 11:42am
    #1
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,762 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Black enough for Priests socks, 100 times blacker than black paint.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1555030620080115?sp=true
    The substance has a total reflective index of 0.045 percent -- which is more than three times darker than the nickel-phosphorous alloy that now holds the record as the world's darkest material.

    Basic black paint, by comparison, has a reflective index of 5 percent to 10 percent.
    ...
    It is composed of carbon nano-tubes, tiny tubes of tightly rolled carbon that are 400 hundred times smaller than the diameter of a strand of hair. The carbon helps absorb some of the light.

    These tubes are standing on end, much like a patch of grass. This arrangement traps light in the tiny gaps between the "blades."

    The researchers have also made the surface of this carbon nano-tube carpet irregular and rough to cut down on reflectivity.


    White
    http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/physik_astronomie/bericht-77204.html
    The Cyphochilus beetle has evolved its brilliant whiteness using a unique surface structure. At one 200th of a millimetre thick, its scales are ten times thinner than a human hair. Industrial mineral coatings, such as those used on high quality paper, plastics and in some paints, would need to be twice as thick to be as white. According to ISO accredited measurements for whiteness and brightness, the beetle is much whiter and brighter than milk and the average human tooth, which are both considerably thicker.
    ...
    Whiteness, however, is created through a random structure, which produces ‘scattering’ of all colours simultaneously. Using electron microscope imaging, Dr Vukusic studied the beetle’s body, head and legs and found them to be covered in long flat scales, which have highly random internal 3D structures.
    ...
    He also worked with cosmetics company L’Oréal to develop a pigment-free photonic make-up based on mimicking butterfly scales.


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