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Mysterious chemical changes color depending on perspective

styropyro 5:33

355,882 views · 13,512 likes Watch on YouTube ↗

Here is a crazy chemical that changes color depending on how it's viewed! I was first introduced to the effect when a friend showed me a hard to believe video that was posted by reddit user budget_cuts (thanks Zach for the tip!). In the video he shows a chemical that dramatically changes color depending on the perspective. He didn't say what chemical was used in the video, but I had to witness this effect in person, so I started reading and experimenting to try figuring it out.

original reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/blackmagicfuckery/comments/932j6d/a_solution_we_made_in_chemistry_that_changes/

The crazy effect is mainly due to a phenomenon called dichromatism that shows up in some substances where the color (hue) changes depending on the thickness or concentration of the solution. Surprisingly it wasn't untill 2007 that this effect was described in comprehensive scientific detail. (paper on the effect https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00114-007-0272-9 )

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Category (YouTube): Science & Technology

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