Chameleon clothing lets you vanish into the background

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — A chemist in the United States is reportedly working on "chameleon clothing" that at the touch of a switch would mimic the wearer's surroundings.

Greg Sotzing, associate professor of the University of Connecticut at Storrs has invented threads of so-called electrochromic polymers that change colour in response to an applied electrical field, the British weekly says.

The threads work because the electrons in their chemical bonds can absorb light across a range of visible wavelengths.

When a voltage is applied, it changes the energy levels of the electrons, causing them to absorb light in a different wavelength and thus changing the material's colour.

So far, Sotzing has been able to change fibres from orange to blue and from red to blue....