# How does the color black work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-color-black-work/287174>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-color-black-work/287174 "2005-01-28T20:21:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Ghost\_of\_Marlowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Ghost\_of\_Marlowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghost_of_Marlowe)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-color-black-work/287174/21 "2005-01-29T07:41:56Z")

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my point being, perhaps, that even a lack of sensory input becomes a sort of input in its own right, due to the involvement of the organ and the brain. Silence becomes more than just absence of sound, and blackness becomes more than just absence of light.

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**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-color-black-work/287174/22 "2005-01-29T13:59:41Z")

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> [@Larry Borgia](#):
>
> In _The Book of the New Sun_, Gene Wolfe invented a color “Fulgin” which was “the color darker than black.” I think the color (Used in clothing in the books) was a perfect absorber. A person who wore a fulgin cloak would appear like a walking shadow, with no folds creases or fabric to be seen.

If you did an entire room in “Fulgin” and then added a black object, would it brighten up the place?

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