What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.342 Comments
- miken32, on 06/14/2008, -1/+172FTA: "A partnership between Duke University and Boston College turned out to be very beneficial for the science world, as they obtained a metamaterial that absorbs all the light it gets (no, it doesn’t make things invisible), thus capable of generating more energy even than the solar cells."
Why did the poster feel it necessary to copy the text word-for-word, except for completely reversing what is arguably the most important fact in the article summary? - BigManOnCampus, on 06/14/2008, -1/+129If it absorbs all the light it gets then it only becomes invisible in complete blackness, which is useless for seeing anyway.
- coheedcollapse, on 06/15/2008, -1/+114How did "(no, it doesn’t make things invisible)" turn into "(yes, it becomes invisible)"?
- kelstock, on 06/15/2008, -0/+77This excellent comment appeared with the article:
"Ok, very rudimentary eye & physics lesson, to explain what an object that “absorbs all light” would look like.
Light that passes through the lens of the eye and hits the retina is absorbed by the rods & cones, and produces signals which the brain interprets as images. I can somewhat understand how, if that was all you knew, how you might think that an object that did not reflect *any* light might become invisible, but that’s not how it works.
With the absence of light, parts of the retina are not being stimulated, and this does not produce any signals for your eye to interpret as an image. This is what the color Black is.
This is why, when you are in a completely dark room, with no light to reflect off of the walls, you can’t see through them. The walls, and the room, appear entirely black.
For an object to actually be invisible, and not just to appear as completely black, your eye must get light from behind the object, so that it knows what image to display.
The object must either be transparent, like Air, and allow all light to pass through it, or it must bend the light around it, thus allowing you to see what is behind." - John. June 14th, 2008 at 3:54 pm - brlmnd, on 06/14/2008, -1/+78I'd be curious to see how the darkest black looks like
- amanilaenvelope, on 06/15/2008, -0/+73do you ever get those weird line that like floats to your eye but when you try to see it it just goes away abruptly.
- Alex2, on 06/15/2008, -2/+71'invisible' is the new black.
- Phoenix478, on 06/15/2008, -4/+67Look into a goth kid's soul. Only their pain is the darkest black.
- satanatnmtedu, on 06/15/2008, -3/+60RTFA - the article doesn't claim it become invisible.
- outlaw686, on 06/15/2008, -0/+55Go to bed, close your eyes and put your pillow over your face. There, you have the darkest black.
- Ultomato, on 06/15/2008, -1/+53when i do this i see green and blue flashes
- explnx, on 04/27/2009, -1/+49Yeah, there is this thing called thermodynamics. It ruins everything.
- dsmx, on 06/15/2008, -2/+49In this universe we obey the laws of thermodynamics.
- theYevvin, on 06/15/2008, -0/+38WTF is wrong with people? Why would you do that? I wish I could smack people through the internet.
- philodygmn, on 06/14/2008, -2/+39Because heat is the most efficient means to electricity! >:-P
- Wrathernaut, on 06/15/2008, -0/+34The blurb is inaccurate, the article says NO it doesn't become invisible.
- Dumbledorito, on 06/15/2008, -2/+34It only looks like "no" in the article, because the "yes" is invisible.
- specialK16, on 06/15/2008, -0/+30Lisa, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!
- bossm4n, on 06/14/2008, -2/+32$300? You must have one helluva big gas tank.
- serif69, on 06/15/2008, -2/+29http://images.google.com/images?q=wesley%20snipes
- bswa, on 06/14/2008, -0/+27Or he lives outside the US where Gas prices are even crazier
- kelstock, on 06/15/2008, -0/+27It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.
- Wrathernaut, on 06/15/2008, -0/+26Heat itself is worthless in generation of power.
You need a *difference* in heat between two areas to do any usable work.
See "Entropy" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy - theone3, on 06/15/2008, -1/+25Disclaimer: Facts may have modified in order to get diggs.
- outlaw686, on 06/15/2008, -1/+22I love the second comment in the article. Basically he's suggesting that our eyes work by transmitting light and re capturing it. And then he tries to make us think he's smart by mentioning thermodynamics.
- jhelmer, on 06/15/2008, -0/+19> Somebody should do something about it...
Yeah... And that someone is... *YOU*
It's no one else's problem that gas is costing you too much. Either change your habits or suck it up. As my parents used to *frequently* remind me: "The world doesn't owe you anything." Not even affordable gas. - inactive, on 06/15/2008, -0/+19Do you ever see these red dots that look like they are being sucked into a hole and suddenly reappear in the center of your vision but when you try to look at them directly they dissolve into little specs of purple waves and the waves turn into red dots again when you look at them at the corner of your eye?
- logicet, on 06/15/2008, -3/+22stop licking the envelopes.
- ThetaDot, on 06/14/2008, -0/+18Multiply your 2 or 3 by 10.
- kelstock, on 06/15/2008, -0/+18By any chance, is this your car ? http://www.viplimoservice.com/images/708_pink-H2-w ...
- TheCoreh, on 06/15/2008, -0/+18Mine are usually green and purple.
- Onyxblaze, on 06/15/2008, -0/+17It's called filaments. They are a result of pressure on the eye when it is shut. Perfectly normal.
- roastnewt1, on 06/15/2008, -0/+17Because the article used to say "yes," but the editor changed it when enough people told him it was wrong. You can see from the first few comments on the article page.
- vulpoi, on 06/14/2008, -8/+25With gas prices directing the entire economy to a world crisis, this is a great progress in the energy generating field. I believe scientists should speed up their efforts in releasing to the market sunlight-based generators that are more powerful than what we already have.
If they'll find a method of combining this material's efficiency in collecting the light with solar cells (and nothing is impossible), we might just get a cheap way of powering our devices and homes using only a source we're sure to last for at least a few million years more: the Sun. - ChileanGoD, on 06/15/2008, -1/+17We are children of the photon.
- Popsgg, on 06/15/2008, -0/+14That's not exactly how it works. The 19% rating of current solar panels is the amount of energy they convert into electricity. This material absorbing 100% of the light that hits it doesn't mean you can turn that 100% into electricity. You would still lose some in waste heat and conversions.
- thatspsychotic, on 06/15/2008, -0/+14That's probably the worst article I've read in a long time.
- TH3W1R3D, on 06/15/2008, -0/+13300 to put gas in the car?? You driving a hummer?
- Micktion, on 06/15/2008, -0/+13In light it would of course be completely black if it absorbs all light, as in 2001 Space Odyssey monolith black.
For something to be invisible it would have to first it would have to absorb no light at all and second it would have a refractive index of 1. - ThantiK, on 06/15/2008, -0/+13I can't believe this was dugg up with the description that it currently has. NO, the article says it's NOT invisible. The article also states that all the materal does, is absorb 100% of the light it recieves - it doesn't convert anything to electricity. It's basically just a black panel...that gets hot.
They created a materal almost identical to this with carbon nanotubes aligned perpendicular to the surface it was manufactured on and achieved exactly the same effect...about a year ago. Now the issue is: If it's great at absorbing light, how flammable is it? - because to be effective at producing any kind of energy at all, it's going to need to withstand a LOT of heat. Unfortunately our current power-generation technology largely relies on turning water into steam if your going to be using heat as the energy source. Can this thing withstand the types of temperatures we need it to? Either way I guess it's a step in the right direction. - robdiggity, on 06/15/2008, -0/+13I call it "Morty."
- luft, on 06/15/2008, -2/+14It doesn't become invisible, it's just black.
- Sanduu, on 06/14/2008, -3/+15If solar cells could only use around 19% of the light they received, and this new material gets 100%, this can be considered a HUGE discovery
- KingGorilla, on 06/15/2008, -1/+13I'll have what he's smoking
- sparrowkc, on 06/15/2008, -0/+12Buried for this reason. Just wow.
- ripple123, on 06/15/2008, -1/+13I'm surprised at the length you managed to get your comment to without actully telling anyone anything they didn't already know. Your pad-fu is as strong as a lawyers.
- elipabst, on 06/15/2008, -0/+11No the car itself is charged overnight. Solar energy is captured during the day and stored in a battery until the car is charged at night.
//Mandatory unicorn usage would be pretty sweet though. - 10scott10, on 06/15/2008, -8/+19seriously, we are basically generating energy for the most part in the same way since the middle age. we tunr something and use it. hell, even nuclear power plant is basically is a steam engine. lets control a reaction to make heat, which boils water, which turn an electromagent, which induces a current.
can't someone figure out how to remove a few of those steps? - inactive, on 06/15/2008, -2/+13Except nuclear fission which comes from the energy that was released by the sun that made it when it went supernova about 6-7 billion years ago, which is not sol...
- n00j, on 06/15/2008, -1/+12over 9000?
-
Show 51 - 100 of 348 discussions
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 