BMW X painted in Vanderblack front quarter

BMW X6 Is Painted In A Colour You Can Not See

While BMW has already revealed the next-generation model of the X6, it will still be displaying this new model at the upcoming Frankfurt Auto Show. However, the model that would be standing at the highly coveted show would be painted n a rather unusual colour. Called Vantablack, this colour happens to be one of the darkest shade of black known to humankind, absorbing more than 99% of the light that falls on it. A result of this light-absorbing pigment is a visual that would trick your eyes into believing that there is nothing behind the latest laser lights and the illuminated kidney-shaped grille.

Created by Surrey NanoSystems in 2014, this paint is called Vantablack VBx2. Originally created for use in space, the first generation of this paint was able to absorb 99.965 percent of light, allowing optical components coated in it to block out random light from the sun and other stars, capturing better images of faint stars and distant galaxies. The second-generation shade, which is seen on this X6 is not as dark as the former but still manages to trick the human eye. Millions of microscopic carbon nanotubes present in the paint trap the light rays that hit the painted surface and eventually converts them into heat. This phenomenon causes, whatever is coated with this paint, to appear two dimensional, with no perception of depth.

BMW X6 painted in Vanderblack front quarter

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While this model looks quite unusual and many customers would be interested to spec their cars in this shade, unfortunately, BMW would not be offering this shade anytime soon. Not only would the paint job be quite expensive, but maintaining such a unique shade in the real world would prove to be a rather huge problem. Moreover, with such a dark car on the streets, especially during dawn and night times, it could prove to be a threat to other motorists, who could easily not see this car ahead, or judge the size of it. However, this colour could find application in other parts of the car, where it is necessary to control the amount of reflection from outside, the dashboard for instance.

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