2y ago

Ultra-White Ceramic Inspired by Beetle Scales Breaks Reflection Record

8 comments

I wonder if it needs cleaning often. Because...
So would this work for like a regular house? Coating a roof tile with this stuff? Where does the reflected light go? Is it going to bounce off my roof and set my trees on fire?
- Nah it’ll just harmlessly go up into space, where it’ll blind an airplane into crashing into your house.
- Just gotta coat the trees in the same stuff
- I don't have the vocabulary to explain, but when they say these are very reflective, they mean reflective in a different way than a mirror is reflective. A mirror does not just reflect, it also projects? Does that make sense? There would be no Death Ray with a white colored lense.
  
  I think you're describing diffusion versus the typical reflection where all light continues in the same direction. In this case the light diffuses, scattering in every direction. Because of that scattering, no specific point will receive a significant amount of energy to burn anything.
Can this he used to reflect solar radiation and keep the polar ice caps from further melting? Or to cool the oceans? Or how about behind solar panels to reflect and waste light back towards the panel and increase efficiency?

8 comments