In Search of the Blackest Thing on Earth

⚫So who gets the trophy for blackest black? Scientists or nature? ⚫ One more thing! We have a Patreon page, where you can support the channel and help us make more videos like this one: www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart

When it comes to identifying what’s black or not, I’d say there is a gray area.

I still feel like that bird is staring into my soul 😳

The nano structures that trap the light remind me of an idea I had as a kid. Before I understood how one-way mirrors worked, I thought you could make a cube of them with the "reflective side" facing in on all sides. This would allow light to get in but not to escape and you'd have a never-ending light source. Then kid me realized: Wait, if the light is trapped inside, it wouldn't be able to get out for you to see it. So it would actually be a dark cube, but if you smashed it all the light would escape and you'd have a sudden bright flash. Obviously none of this is actually how things work, but it's a cool fictitious device that I'll always remember "inventing" when I was little.

“Do you think there’s something out there blacker than this” My sister: “ME!”

He single handedly made the color black a more interesting topic than all of my Science classes I took in my life

4:10 Crazy to think some people judge people based on how dense their pigment granules are packed. 👍🏻👍🏼👍

Did you see the QI episode with the pinkest pink? It was created in response to Anish Kapoor's blackest black that absorbs 99.6% of all light so very close to this. Kapoor got exclusive rights to use the black so the other artist created the pinkest pink that anyone was allowed to use except Kapoor. When you buy it you have to submit a sworn document stating you are not Kapoor nor affiliated in any way with him.

Can you talk about thirsty cement and how using this in roads or parking lots can save millions of tons of sand and reduce flooding and increase groundwater aquifer levels.

Still brighter than my future

The award goes to the album "Smell the Glove" by Spinal Tap. There can be none more blacker.

"finally YouTube recommending something good" 👴🏻

Internet has ruin me, i can't finish this watching this video without giggling

I'd point out that ultrablack would make for a terrible camouflage suit. You'd be so black that you'd stick out as a void in the night, perfectly visible against the not-as-black background

I've seen breakdowns on the blackest blacks before, so I didn't think I was really going to enjoy this, but I've already watched it twice really nicely done buddy.

My lawyer suggested not making any jokes on this topic.

I think about it like looking into a mirror tunnel (two mirrors facing eachother). It gets darker and greener, because the absolute path the light traces get REALLY long, and it loses energy as it bounces off of the surfaces. Eventually it just runs out of energy like anything that's interacting with an internal system.

You are a great science narrator. I love the content and the way you share the info. Thanks

My question is, if it absorbs so much light, be it by pigments or nanostructures, would the organism heat up? Even if it's by the smallest fraction, does it heat up? Because light or photons as we know, carry some energy, right?

There are gonna be so many memes from this