In a bit of news that sounds like like something out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a man in Portugal fell into an eight-foot-deep hole painted with an ultra-black paint to make it look like a flat surface. And while you could obviously liken this incident to a ridiculous cartoon situation, the most important thing here is the fact that the man in question is okay.
News of the 60-year-old Italian man falling into the hole that could literally be considered “none more black,” which comes via Gizmodo, comes out of Portuguese art exhibition, where one of artist Anish Kapoor’s installations—Descent into Limbo—is currently on display. Kapoor, a sculptor, has patented Vantablack, and is currently the only human on Earth who can legally make it. Which means that somebody really needs to get on a generic Kindablack, right?
One of our @royalsociety funded placement students demonstrating a new super-black, carbon nanotube free coating he’s working on #Vantablack pic.twitter.com/BlIIhNtsQS
— Surrey NanoSystems (@SurreyNanoSys) October 28, 2016
So how black is this hole exactly? Let’s put it like this: Vantablack absorbs 99.965% of the visible light that comes into contact with it, making it literally the blackest thing on Earth. Which means it’s really good at playing tricks on human perception—hence this whole situation!—and also would be perfect for like, a cool bathing suit for Batman.
Rendered picture of the structure that houses the Vantablack hole. Image: YouTube / fundacaoserralves
Vantablack is able to achieve its extraordinary level of blackness thanks to its being made of forests of nanotube arrays, which photons get stuck in until they eventually just turn into radiated heat. Art is just one of Vantablack’s myriad uses as well. It’s been used to aid telescopes, solar panel installations, and also Spinal Tap’s new album. Okay, that last one’s not true, but wouldn’t that be cool?
What do you think about this Italian man falling into this ultra-black hole? Should we expect a lot more people falling into ultra-blackness when/if Vantablack goes mainstream? Let us know in the comments!
Images: fundacaoserralves
