Glowing Car Paint | |||||||||||||||||
Depending on where you're driving, cars at night can be quite difficult to see. You're approaching a vehicle on a two-way street with no divider, both of your headlights are on, light is bouncing off the shiny paint on both cars, and generally, it's a pain in the neck to really "see" the other car. Would it be possible to have car paint, which glows at night, not in your typical "glow-in-the-dark" fashion, but in more of a "matte photo" way? So a blue car actually looks blue at night. Sunlight or ambient light could "recharge" the glow, or perhaps a mesh of wires could somehow power the paint. Perhaps roads too could make use of this technology. Asphalt could be mixed with the luminescent substance to make the road glow a light gray colour.
seano, May 21 2005
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Copyright © Barry Nalebuff & Ian Ayres
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Sun charged GITD paint would die quickly.Phosphorescent pait (AKA Day-Glo) would look horrendous, for the most part.Self illuminating surfaces would be complex.
What would wourk is refelctive glass beads and a colored clearcoat.
You could always use those thing glow strips that joggers use - it's not reflective, but an electrical light source as thin as tape.
One possible problem is that cars are limited in the type of lights they may show and where. If it is not the right color or is too distracting, it may be illegal. (I believe all side lights have to be yellow, for instance.)
I believe what you are looking for is a clear glow coat, which allows the background color to show through. Not possible since glow paint itself is non transparent.
I believe road painting has been done in some places. Not the whole road but just on the white strips.
This site Glow Paint, provides some usefull tips on what can and cannot be done with glow paint.
A variation of this idea would be to place fluorescent markers on cars and in a strip at the center and the side of the road and on significant objects along the road and illuminate the road with ultra-violet light so only designated objects would glow. This might make seeing easier at night although animals and pedestrians would be a problem.