By: Leon L. Livingston
Have you ever wanted to be in room, but not seen, or move through a place without a trace? Maybe you always wanted to own the invisibility cloak that Harry Potter had in the Sorcerer's Stone. Well it's not on the market yet, but the engineers at the University of Michigan are getting your dream closer to your fingertips. A new form of transparency is being developed at U of M that allows for objects to become invisible to the human eye. A cloaking paint developed by Michigan Engineers sprays on clear and dries invisible. Once dry, it guides light around an object, causing it to become transparent. This technology has yet to be made safe for the skin, but imagine spraying your clothes with this paint then going unseen by all around you.
The use of nanotechnology has scurried the line between science and science fiction. Christopher Ellison, University of Michigan engineer, developed a paint that guides rays of light around an object. Still in development, the distortions allow the outline of the object to be seen, preventing true invisibility. While this may be a dream for the public to have use of, the U.S government has already begun making investments in the development of this chemical for preparation for its use in the military. So with dreams of being invisible at our reach, it seems as if the public will not have it for its use any time soon.
It seems as though bending light will require a few more years to fully develop in order for the cloaking device to work. They also said the spray acts negatively on human contact. Once scientists work out the kinks, the invisible cloak will be revolutionary
ReplyDeleteNice article. It's kind mind-blowing to think that something like this could be possible in the near future.
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