4 ms·
I interpreted this along the lines of it not being a pigment, rather it's black because something about it's physical structure at a small scale causes light to
by loaph 2y ago
I interpreted this along the lines of it not being a pigment, rather it's black because something about it's physical structure at a small scale causes light to not reflect back. Adding a thin coating of gold would not necessarily change that structure so it would continue not reflecting light.
^ pure conjecture
- pb060 2y agoI believe it's something called "structural absorption", similar to what happens on birds of paradise feathers [1] [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02088-w https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02088-w
- jmprspret 2y agoI'm way out of my depth here, but I think this comparison to the birds of paradise feathers makes the most sense in terms of me visualising what Nxylon would look like with a thin metallic coating
- majorchord 2y agoI wonder if this pattern is considered similar to fractals? Or would that work even better? I recently learned that we have figured out how to produce fractal light from lasers as well which sounds quite interesting and useful. Maybe the reason radio waves travel poorly through trees is due to the leaves having a fractal-like structure as well? And since light is also just electromagnetic radiation too, it makes sense that this phenomenon could also be used to absorb light itself, if I'm understanding correctly. I wonder if this is how stealth paint on aircraft works?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- digging 2y ago> Adding a thin coating of gold would not necessarily change that structure My confusion is that I would normally expect a layer of gold not to permit any light to pass through. The underlying structure wouldn't be receiving any light, so there would be no photons to trap. Apparently a layer of gold can be applied thinly enough to transmit appreciable light, though.
- baruz 2y agoGold foil can be beaten to under 2 micrometers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_leaf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_leaf
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- xelamonster 2y agoThis part of the article confused me, because what does a black pigment do if not "inherently prevent light from escaping"? That's kind of just the definition of absorb.