Invisibility Cloak - Harry Potter Fantasy or Fact

Invisibility Cloak is this a Harry Potter fantasy of fact? The Harry Potter series of books described a invisibility cloak that Harry and his friends used to sneak around Hogwarts school when they where supposed to be in bed, but now some University of California Scientists at Berkeley may be about to make  the fantasy a reality.

The scientists at Berkerly are working on the invisibility cloak by creating a type of material that refracts light in a way that light is not reflected and seen. The material referred to as metamaterials is what allows the invisibility cloak to become a reality. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, whose work is funded by the American military, have developed a material that can bend light waves around an object, making it appear invisible.

"In the case of invisibility cloaks or shields, the material would need to curve light waves completely around the object like a river flowing around a rock," says Xiang Zhang, project leader.

This discovery has  far reaching benefits and concerns. The benefits could come from military uniforms which could be worn on the battlefield allowing the soldier to move about virtually undetected by the enemy. I’m sure there are soldiers in Iraq at the moment who would love to get their hands on an Invisibility Cloak or any other material that would reduce the ability of Iraqi insurgents to take aim at them.

It will be interesting to see what other uses scientists come up with for the use of metamaterials. Now that a feasible use has been developed for these metameterials, then there are other discoveries the will soon follow.

Did you like this post? If you would like to keep up with my latest posts, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed and not miss any posts from MyTownTalks. Thanks for visiting!