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Texas scientist makes strands of ‘invisibility cloak’
Yahoo! News ^ | Nov.10, 2011 | Liz Goodwin

Posted on 11/10/2011 12:25:48 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY

A University of Texas scientist is working on developing a technology that would delight Harry Potter fans everywhere--an invisibility cloak.

Ali Aliev uses carbon nanotubes--which look like pieces of thread--and then heats them up rapidly until the objects beneath them effectively disappear.You can watch the threads disappear as they are heated up in this video.

So how do the threads work? In a paper published in Nanotechnology in June, Aliev explains that the invisibility cloak exploits the "mirage effect." A highway can become so hot that small circles that look like puddles of water appear in the road. That happens when the road is so hot that the surface bends the light around it, so that the driver sees the reflected sky instead of the pavement. The carbon nanotubes create a similar effect.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: invisibility; invisibilitycloak
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1 posted on 11/10/2011 12:25:49 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY

The threads disappear, not the thing covered by the threads.


2 posted on 11/10/2011 12:29:29 PM PST by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I did not see this coming.


3 posted on 11/10/2011 12:34:17 PM PST by TruthShallSetYouFree ("Nanny Care State" is not a Division 3 football powerhouse.)
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To: Steely Tom

No, the thing covered by the threads disappears also in the video embedded in the source story. Way cool.


4 posted on 11/10/2011 12:35:47 PM PST by FateAmenableToChange
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To: Free ThinkerNY

He’s making invisible clothes for Emperor Baraq I as we speak.


5 posted on 11/10/2011 12:37:13 PM PST by The Sons of Liberty (Psalm 109:8 Let his days be few and let another take his office. - Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Turns out he can’t remember where he put them.


6 posted on 11/10/2011 12:38:31 PM PST by mmichaels1970
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To: Steely Tom

Look at the (wooden?) structures holding the threads. They do indeed vanish when the nanotubes are heated.


7 posted on 11/10/2011 12:38:33 PM PST by Eagle of Liberty (Shaking My Head on a daily basis)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

http://nanotech.utdallas.edu/

Mirage effect from thermally modulated transparent carbon nanotube sheets” published in IOP Science
The single-beam mirage effect, also known as photothermal deflection, is studied using a free-standing, highly aligned carbon nanotube aerogel sheet as the heat source. The extremely low thermal capacitance and high heat transfer ability of these transparent forest-drawn carbon nanotube sheets enables high frequency modulation of sheet emperature over an enormous temperature range, thereby providing a sharp, rapidly changing gradient of refractive index in the surrounding liquid or gas.(see more)


8 posted on 11/10/2011 12:40:17 PM PST by pwatson
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To: FateAmenableToChange; Eagle of Liberty

Sorry, you’re right. Quite amazing.

I’m guessing DARPA will may take a slight interest in this.


9 posted on 11/10/2011 12:41:27 PM PST by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: Steely Tom

It looks to me like an old magician trick done with mirrors.

It looks like the cloth is just reflecting the background to the left of the experiment which gives the perception of invisibility. Its all placement and camera angle.


10 posted on 11/10/2011 12:43:23 PM PST by downtownconservative
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To: pwatson
The extremely low thermal capacitance and high heat transfer ability of these transparent forest-drawn carbon nanotube sheets enables high frequency modulation of sheet emperature over an enormous temperature range, thereby providing a sharp, rapidly changing gradient of refractive index in the surrounding liquid or gas.

Oh.....ah, yeah.....that's what I was gonna say.

11 posted on 11/10/2011 12:43:54 PM PST by GreenHornet
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I made an invisibility cloak once. But, I put it down somewhere and couldn’t find it again.

Darn it! Where is that thing!


12 posted on 11/10/2011 12:49:56 PM PST by 240B (he is doing everything he said he wouldn't and not doing what he said he would)
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To: downtownconservative
It looks to me like an old magician trick done with mirrors. It looks like the cloth is just reflecting the background to the left of the experiment which gives the perception of invisibility. Its all placement and camera angle.

You could be right, but I would think that an array of carbon fibers that can be reversably turned into a specular reflector by resistive heating would be pretty useful in certain quarters.

13 posted on 11/10/2011 12:50:16 PM PST by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: Steely Tom

Earlier this year, Ray Baughman told NPR that he has created a special “multifunctional” yarn. Imagine a shirt that doubles as a battery or a soldier’s uniform that could cool him in the battlefield. (see more)


14 posted on 11/10/2011 12:51:57 PM PST by pwatson
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To: 240B
Ha!!

I bought a camo range finder once....

I was out putting up a deer stand...and laid it down. I forgot about it....until I got back to the truck.

Went back to get it...and I COULD NOT FIND IT!!! Man, I was ticked off!! LOL!!!

15 posted on 11/10/2011 1:05:39 PM PST by Osage Orange (Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

‘invisibility cloak’? Who needs it? Just get old. People don’t see or pay attention to you. They don’t even hear you. Grow a bunch of white hair which should reflect light, but they run you over in the street anyway. “I never saw them in the headlights.”


16 posted on 11/10/2011 1:05:42 PM PST by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: Steely Tom

No worries — your version would have had amazing applications in the fashion industry.


17 posted on 11/10/2011 1:11:39 PM PST by FateAmenableToChange
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To: Steely Tom

Yes, yes, of course! But it still won’t make Harry happy.


18 posted on 11/10/2011 1:11:51 PM PST by downtownconservative
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“GET TO THA CHOPPAHH!!!”


19 posted on 11/10/2011 1:15:41 PM PST by RandallFlagg (Look for the union label, then buy elsewhere.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

This is just so cool....


20 posted on 11/10/2011 2:49:06 PM PST by jcsjcm (This country was built on exceptionalism and individualism. In God we Trust - Laus Deo)
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