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It’s actually surprisingly common. For instance, butterflies and peacocks also use this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration https://en.wikipedi
by bradrn 3y ago
It’s actually surprisingly common. For instance, butterflies and peacocks also use this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_coloration
(In fact, I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that only a handful of blue pigments exist in nature; the vast majority of blue animals and plants use structural colouration instead. Can’t recall where I saw it, though.)
- perihelions 3y agoIf I'm not mistaken, thin-film anodization one more example of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anodizing - "Anodic films can also be used for several cosmetic effects, either with thick porous coatings that can absorb dyes or with thin transparent coatings that add reflected light wave interference effects. [...] The colour [sic] formed is dependent on the thickness of the oxide (which is determined by the anodizing voltage); it is caused by the interference of light reflecting off the oxide surface with light travelling through it and reflecting off the underlying metal surface." There's one more example in metallurgy I don't remember the name of: where you can get metals to spontaneously form color gradients by heating them in a specific way. Like, there's a thermal gradient, and that somehow translates to an oxidation-thickness gradient, which makes a rainbow. (?)
- DontchaKnowit 3y agoThere is work currently being done to turn this idea into a usable paint : https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7207 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf7207
- ChatGTP 3y agoSomething can be both common and amazing ? I find the blue sky one of these common yet amazingly beautiful phenomena.