Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflectlight in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light. Although black is sometimes described as an "achromatic", or hueless, color, in practice it can be considered a color, as in expressions like "black cat" or "black paint".
Black can be defined as the visual impression experienced when no visible light reaches the eye. (This makes a contrast with whiteness, the impression of any combination of colors of light that equally stimulates all three types of color-sensitive visual receptors.)
Pigments that absorb light rather than reflect it back to the eye "look black". A black pigment can, however, result from a combination of several pigments that collectively absorb all colors. If appropriate proportions of three primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects so little light as to be called "black".
This provides two superficially opposite but actually complementary descriptions of black. Black is the lack of all colors of light, or an exhaustive combination of multiple colors of pigment. See also Primary colors
In physics, a black body is a perfect absorber of light, but by a rule derived by Einstein it is also, when heated, the best emitter. Thus, the best radiative cooling, out of sunlight, is by using black paint, though it is important that it be black (a nearly perfect absorber) in the infrared as well.
In elementary science, far Ultraviolet light is called "black light" because, unseen (per se), it causes many minerals and other substances to fluoresce.
On January 16, 2008, researchers from Troy, New York?s Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute announced the creation of the darkest material on the planet. The material, which reflects only .045 percent of light, was created from carbon nanotubes stood on end. It absorbs nearly 30 times more light than the current standard for blackness, and is 3 times darker than the current record holder for darkest substance. Scientists claim that the new material has great potential in the manufacturing of solar panels.[1]
Absorption of light
In keeping with the law of conservation of energy, as a black color surface absorbs the light particles that hit it, the surface's particles are getting excited (excited particles = higher temperature). The color black attracts heat and absorbs it making the object that is black warmer, because the particles have warmed up and are moving faster.
Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions
A black cat
Neutral symbolism
Some of these can be seen as positive or negative, depending on one's stance. For example, superstitions related to black cats hold them to be bad luck in the U.S. and good luck in the UK.
Authority and seriousness
Black can be seen as the color of authority and seriousness.
In Japanese culture, kuro (black) is a symbol of nobility, age, and experience, as opposed to shiro (white), which symbolizes serfdom, youth, and naiveté. Thus the black belt is a mark of achievement and seniority in many martial arts, whereas in, for example, Shotokan karate, a white belt is a rank-less belt which comes before all other belts. These ranks are called dan.
The List of black flags, although not exclusively political, gives many political meanings.
Black is used for anarchist symbolism, sometimes split in diagonal with other colors to show alignment with another political philosophy. The plain black flag is explained in various ways, sometimes as an anti-flag or a non-flag. Wearing black clothing is also sometimes an anarchist tactic during demonstrations, with a practical benefit of not attracting attention and making later identification of a subject difficult. This strategy is referred to as a black bloc.
In Portuguese politics, black (and red) is the party color of the Left Bloc.
The black triangle was used by the Nazis to designate "asocial" people (homeless and Roma, for example); later the symbol was adopted by lesbian culture.
Johnny Cash was commonly referred to as "The Man in Black" due to his preference for black clothing. His song "Man in Black" presents it as a show of solidarity with the outcasts of society.
The band AC/DC sang "Back in Black", a song about being successful and ambitious once again.
In a book by the Berenstains, titled Call Me Mrs., the wife tells the husband in the garden, "You not only fixed those lousy aphids, you developed that long-sought-after variety--the pure black rose!"
Black sky refers to the appearance of space as one emerges from the Earth's atmosphere.
The term "black hole" is applied to collapsed stars. This term is metaphorical however, because few properties of black objects or black voids apply to black holes. However, light emitted within a black hole's event horizon cannot escape, hence a black hole cannot be directly observed.
The national rugby union team of New Zealand is called the All Blacks, in reference to their black outfits, and the color is also shared by other New Zealand national teams such as the Black Caps (cricket) and the Kiwis (rugby league).
In auto racing, a black flag signals a driver to go into the pits.
In baseball, "the black" refers to a blacked out baseball area around the center-field bleachers, painted black to give hitters a decent background for pitched balls.
Ambiguity and secrecy
A black box is any device whose internal workings are unknown or inexplicable. In theatre, the black box is a smaller, undecorated theater whose auditorium and stage relationship can be configured in various way.
Black Friday (shopping) occurs the day after Thanksgiving and is, statistically, the largest shopping day in the US. The idea is that the shopping that begins on this day can put a company into the black (i.e., make a profit) for the year.
To say one's accounts are "in the black" is used to mean that one is free of debt.
Being "in the red" is to be in debt?in traditional bookkeeping, negative amounts, such as costs, were printed in red ink, and positive amounts, like revenues, were printed in black ink, so that if the "bottom line" is printed in black, the firm is profiting.
Fashion
In Western fashion, black is considered stylish, sexy, elegant and powerful.
The colloquialism "X is the new black" is a reference to the latest trend or fad that is considered a wardrobe basic for the duration of the trend, on the basis that black is always fashionable. The phrase has taken on a life of its own as a snowclone, and has been stretched and parodied as a rhetorical device and a cliche.
Negative symbolism
Black can also carry negative connotations. The reasons for this are various, but the most widely accepted explanations are that night is perceived as dangerous. Especially before electric lights, darkness was potentially threatening. A secondary reason is that stains are most visible as dark additions to pale materials. Some people associate black with evil and destruction as it naturally absorbs all light and even the Black Hole is described as 'nature's ultimate fury'.
This use of the word and its associations carries over from night and objects to people as well. In traditional class-based Western cultures, pale skin indicated genteel domestic or intellectual indoor-work as opposed to rough outdoor labor in the fields. Aspects of this black/white opposition are not unique to the West, as, for example in the Indianvarna system and in Japanese geisha makeup. African, Afro-Caribbean and African-American writers, such as Frantz Fanon, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Ralph Ellison, identify a number of negative symbolisms surrounding the word "black", arguing that the good vs. bad dualism associated with white and black provide prejudiced connotations to color terminology for race.
Beliefs, religions and superstitions
Black is a symbol of mourning and bereavement in Western societies, especially at funerals and memorial services. In some traditional societies, within for example Greece and Italy, widows wear black for the rest of their lives. In contrast, across much of Africa and parts of Asia, white is a color of mourning and is worn during funerals.
In English heraldry, black means darkness, doubt, ignorance, and uncertainty. [2]
Symbolic dualism with white
Black magic is a destructive or evil form of magic, often connected with death, as opposed to white magic. This was already apparent during Ancient Egypt when the Cush Tribe invaded Egyptian plantations along the Nile River.
Evil witches are stereotypically dressed in black and good fairies in white.
In computer security, a blackhat is an attacker with evil intentions, while a whitehat bears no such ill will. (This is derived from the Western movie convention.)
black market is used to denote the trade of illegal goods, or alternatively the illegal trade of otherwise legal items at considerably higher prices, e.g. to evade rationing.
Black propaganda is the use of known falsehoods, partial truths, or masquerades in propaganda to confuse an opponent.
Blackmail is the act of threatening to reveal information about a person unless the threatened party fulfills certain demands. This information is usually of an embarrassing or socially damaging nature. Ordinarily, such a threat is illegal.
If you sink the black eight-ball in billiards before all others are out of play, you lose.
The black sheep of the family is the ne'er-do-well.
To blackball someone is to block their entry into a club or some such institution. In the traditional English gentlemen's club, current members vote on the admission of a candidate by secretly placing a white or black ball in a hat. If upon the completion of voting, there was even one black ball amongst the white, the candidate would be denied membership, and he would never know who had "blackballed" him.
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