Is black a color?

Color black is everywhere in our daily lives—clothing, furniture, cars, and countless other everyday objects. It’s the color we associate with pupils, crows, coal, ink, and jet. While it's clearly ingrained in our collective imagination, it raises a curious question: is black a color? The answer depends on the discipline you're looking through—science and art have very different ways of defining it.

In physics

In physics, colors are understood as electromagnetic radiation at a certain frequency, a wave that represents light, which rises and falls. Depending on how fast it moves, it creates one frequency or another. Thus, each of the colors in the rainbow spectrum has a different frequency, giving it its unique characteristics. But have you noticed that the color black is not present in the rainbow? This is because it does not create any electromagnetic radiation that our brain can interpret, therefore it is not a type of light (unlike other colors such as green or red). In other words, the “color” black is what happens when there is no electromagnetic radiation, the absence of light, when the eye perceives nothing. From this point of view, therefore, this color is not a colour.

In art

In art, although this color is also defined as the total absence of light, or the complete absorption of its visible waves, it is considered part of the colors because it can be created by mixing various pigments of other colors. However, it should be clarified that the black pigment used in art is a shade close to pure black, which is what we perceive in nature when there is a total absence of light. Therefore, although it is impossible to create it, we have a version that comes very close.

However, although it is related to the absence of light, it should not be confused with blacklight, the name given to ultraviolet light, an electromagnetic radiation with its characteristics.

What is the blackest black in the world?

Referring to the darkest pigment created by man, until a few years ago, the blackest paint that existed was the famous Vantablack, developed by the British company Surrey Nanosystems in 2014. It is a material composed of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes, so small and dense that light is trapped between them, unable to escape, and can absorb up to 99.965% of visible light. The light bounces around inside them until it disappears in the form of heat.

"Vantablack grown on tinfoil" by Surrey NanoSystems, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

When you look at a surface coated with Vantablack, it looks like a hole or a shapeless shadow. It does not reflect contours or textures. It is an almost supernatural visual experience, very difficult for the human eye to comprehend. Vantablack is not available for general use, as it is not commercially available. At the time, its exclusive use was granted to artist Anish Kapoor (creator of Chicago's famous “Cloud Gate” or “Cloud Gate”), which caused great controversy among the artistic community.

Following this milestone, other researchers have attempted and are attempting to surpass Vantablack's mark, resulting in the creation of a new material capable of absorbing 99.995% of light. It was developed in 2019 by a team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) based on the same carbon nanotube technology but increasing its efficiency and making it more accessible to those interested in purchasing it.

In addition, there are paints available to anyone that have achieved quite remarkable levels of light absorption, such as Maxx Darth Black paint from Green Stuff World, which is capable of absorbing 98.8% of light. A high-quality, economical paint.

Applications of the blackest paint

The blackest paint is not only used in art or to create visual effects but also has practical applications in the scientific and technological fields.

• Telescopes and optical sensors. This material is used to eliminate all types of reflections that may hinder the observation of distant astronomical bodies.

• Aerospace and military industry. It is used to make aircraft and other devices difficult to detect with the naked eye, as its ability to absorb light creates this effect.

• Engineering and technology. In the future, it could help create more efficient screens and more accurate camera sensors.

How much does pure black cost?

Since the world's blackest paint, the original Vantablack, is not commercially available, its exact price has not been published. However, the price of other similar materials available to the public is known, such as Black2.0 and Black3.0, acrylic paints developed by Stuart Semple and his team after the Anish Kapoor and Vantablack controversy. MIT Black is also commercially available. Depending on the product and the quantity purchased, the price can vary between €30 and €100.

On the other hand, other more affordable acrylic colors, such as Maxx Darth Black by Green Stuff World, are sold for $5.82 for the small version and $14.66 for the 60ml bottle.

While black technically isn’t a color in the scientific sense, artists and creators have found ways to mimic its appearance using pigments. Materials like Vantablack and its successors have opened new frontiers—not just in art, but in space exploration, defense, and engineering. The race to create the world’s blackest black continues, bringing us closer to a pigment capable of absorbing 100% of visible light