In the fifth episode of ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’, Toby kills time by visiting an exhibit called ‘Vantablack’ at the American Museum of Natural History.
After realizing that Rachel has abandoned them, Toby struggles to get back to his life. All he sees around him are happy families living the life he once dreamt of. Eventually, he accepts the situation he is in.
Time passes slowly for him, and he finds himself all alone. In order to overcome loneliness, he visits his favorite places and participates in his favorite activities.
One of these places is the American Museum of Natural History. The museum was holding an exhibit he was looking forward to all summer called ‘Vantablack’.
What is Vantablack?
Vantablack is a lab-created material that is said to be the darkest black in existence. It was created for the military to help hide satellites and jets from detection. The material is so dark that an individual is not even allowed to use it legally.
In ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’, the exhibit has a room covered with Vantablack. Though Toby was quite excited about it, he had no courage to enter it on his own.
Toward the end of the fifth episode, he does enter the room with Hanna and Solly. Things had changed by then. With Rachel gone, the Fleishman family consisted of only three members.
The family was off to a new start, and Toby took his kids to Vantablack to kick off their new journey.
The kids get scared within the first few seconds after entering the room, especially Solly, who opts to run outside, followed by Toby and Hanna.
Does Vantablack really exist?
Vantablack is the brand name for a class of super-black coatings. The original coating, known as just ‘Vantablack’, holds the independently verified world record as the darkest man-made substance. It was grown from a chemical vapor deposition process.
The coatings were invented by Ben Jensen. He unveiled them in July 2014. The scientific team from Surrey NanoSystems commercialized the coatings.
The name is a combination of the acronym VANTA, which stands for vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays, and black.
The original coatings are no longer manufactured for commercial applications. They have been surpassed by Vantablack spray coatings. Vantablack coatings are quite expensive and are not sold to private individuals.