3 ms·
There's a patent for casting holograms on chocolate by the same process. (Holograms rely on the same constructive interference effect as diffraction gratings).
by flir 7y ago
There's a patent for casting holograms on chocolate by the same process. (Holograms rely on the same constructive interference effect as diffraction gratings). You need enough sugar in the mix to produce a hard shiny surface to the chocolate.
You can also cut a record on chocolate, but you don't get more than a couple of plays before the needle wears away the grooves.
- fractallyte 7y agoHey, snap! Your comment appeared while I was typing mine! (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23131386 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23131386)
- flir 6y agoIt was Scientific American. When I was an unemployed pre-internet late-teen, I went through my local library's entire collection, right back to the first Mathematical Games column, and photocopied everything I found interesting. That was one of the articles I snagged. I did successfully make some iridescent chocolate after that, with a diffraction grating I bought from Edmunds Scientific as a mould. By the by, you may be interested in this: https://www.litiholo.com/ https://www.litiholo.com/ I'm probably going to buy one at some point.
- slavik81 7y agoThe patent (expired in 2005): https://patents.google.com/patent/US4668523A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US4668523A/en A New York Times interview about it: https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/garden/where-no-candy-has-gone-before-light-as-the-secret-ingredient.html https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/02/garden/where-no-candy-has...
- flir 6y agoThanks for looking those up. I wonder why it never took off - adding surface interest without adding colourings seems like a no-brainer to me.