"The Black Panther movie is finally in cinemas in Nigeria."
The voice was that of my best friend.
We've waited for so long for the movie to premiere, so it's no surprise the tint of excitement in his voice.
"When are we going to see it?" He asked,
"Yesterday!" I replied "Yesterday!!!"
Super hero stories are not new to the world of fiction but with each passing years, Marvel seems to always break boundaries and stereotypes and its something they did excellently well with the Black Panther.
In case you don't already know, Black Panther is the first black superhero in a mainstream comic and has already broken so many records like earning $292 million in North America in its first week; this number is far more than any Marvel movie ever.
While the success of Black panther is not in doubt, its easy to forget one of the reason why it was easily so. In a universe where superheroes are masked white men in metal sheets and strange hoodies fighting to save the world, Black Panther is mostly concerned with his people in Wakanda: an East African nation with the most advanced technology in the Marvel universe.
This technology is what we'll be talking about.
VIBRANIUM
Vibranium is a fictional metal that absorbs sound waves and other vibrations including kinetic energy, this makes the metal strong and indestructible. One of the most excititng thing about the metal is, it can only be found in Wakanda. This vibranium and its resources is one of the sole reason why Wakanda is the world's most technologically advanced nation.
Apart from been used to make the Black Panther suit. It was also the metal used to make Captain America shield when the Nazis were on their killing spree. Guess how the allys got their hand on the metal; from Wakanda off course.
Another major reason why the Vibranium is so much talked about is its
Kinetic Energy blasts ; because the Black Panther outfit can absorb kinetic energy from enemy attacks, the suit charges itself up with that kinetic energy and releases it in the form of energy blasts that doesn't hurt T'challa AKA Black Panther but does enough damage to attacking enemies.
This principle stems from the scientific belief that you just cant absorb energy without converting it to something else and expelling it somehow.
But Since Vibranium is a fictional matter, is there anything close to it in the real world? Cos as science heads we need to ask the real question.
A perfect metal like Vibranium may not exist yet in the real world but substances such as Kevlar and graphene is already been used in the same way vibranium is, though we are still years years far behind the people of wakanda.
KEVLAR as we already know is used to make bullet proof vests
And GRAPHENE which is even far stronger that kevlar is a real life material that was also used to make IRON MAN suits.Its made up of bonded carbons atoms that are super thing and super stong when layered together.
We might be far from the people of Wakanda but we are getting there.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Because the use of a Vibranium suit may prove to be more herculean than otherwise neccessary, Shuri AKA Letitia Wright, Black Panther's sister using her love for nanotechnology built a suit that's entirely stored in his necklace and can materialize over his body in an instant.
You remember that Deadpool Trailer where he had to run into a phone booth to wear his suit before he could be a hero but got to the crime scene late. Well this would not happen in Black panther, cos with the help of nanotechnolgy, T'challa can go from a wrapper tying sober looking king to a menacing super hero in an instant.
BUT HOW FAR HAVE WE HUMANS GONE WITH NANO-TECHNOLOGY
First what is nano-technology? for our non science students.
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on a very small supramolecular scale. In simple terms, it is the use of extremely small things to create, recreate, repair and destroy any form of matter.
Imagine been attacked by one million ants or things 10 times smaller than ants. Now imagine the ability to reprogram these things to instead of attack you, they rather cure your acne or repair your eyes or help your dwindling hair growth.
Seems far fetched right? But its already been used;
1. South-Africa use nanotechnology against TB
2. Use of nanotechnology in the treatment of cancer
HOLOGROPHIC BRACELETS
The holographic braclets is a form of skype-calling but using holograph technology. In wakanda they are known as kimoyo beads. However the kimoyo beads only work well in Wakanda.
Think of it as beads acting like a cell phone, each bead having the capability to tell its own story, a kind of memory flash back. when you can show someone what had happened in the past.
Africans and the word at large already where beads but is there a way to use holographic technology in the real world.
The use of hologram is the key to holographic projections. According to this article on Sciencing
Before the advent of digital imaging, holograms were patterns on film. The photographer took a single source of light and split it into two. Half illuminated the subject and half went directly to the film, creating an interference pattern with the light reflected from the subject. A holographic projector uses a similar light and the film to recreate an image of the subject.
You'll be surprised the amazing things the world is already doing with Holographs!
However we are still waiting for that day when you can get a holographic image of a loved one miles away.
FLYING CARS SHAPED LIKE BIRDS
According to Brian Stelfreeze, the man responsible for building the world of Wakanda, he reiteraes that Wakanda technology is organic technology as most of its tech are copying from natural elements cos it comes from nature.
Instead of developing from a history of industrial and social revolutions, the wakanda people evolved from their agricultural needs, they used organic tech to build marvelous looking machines.
No wonder the Blank panther suit and their flying cars carry the shape of animals.
Is this already been used in the real world? You bet it is!
Airbnb already has prototype in the making, called Airbus.
uber is also set to introduce their flying cars
References
Don't forget to follow, upvote @sigmund and Resteem.
Hi, you may want to take a look here concerning the use of images that are free of copyright issues.
I would, thank you @greenrun
Well, I knew a little about all of these nanotechnology and graphene things but I can say you did a good job explaining as best as you could to make people who are not from a science background understand where are we standing in terms of technological advancement compared to the imagination of what it should be which materialized in the form of comic books and movie. Kudos.
I am happy you find my post enlightening. Thank you
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i am pretty amazed on how movies like ths executed and preformed everything with a blend of science!