Saturday 3 December 2016

deepest, darkest

We here at PfRC have been previously acquainted with fantastic pigment library of Harvard and its collection which conserves the intersection of chemistry and art, curating the most curious of artisanal hues with often the strangest compositions from deadly toxins to cattle fed on a specific diet.
And naturally, we were pleased to learn it had of late acquired a specimen of Vantablack. This substance, Vertically Aligned Nano Tube Arrays, absorbs nearly one hundred percent of visible light—less than a tenth of a percent away from absorbing all the incident light compared to conventional black’s mere ninety-seven percent, making it as dark as empty space and contours appear flat to the eye. As it’s not a very easy medium to work with and grants are limited, Vantablack hasn’t yet been used on many artists’ palette and its chief application has been in the aerospace and defence industry. Thanks to its inclusion, however, at least its formula will be part of the spectrum.