Re: Scientists create world's thinnest balloon, just 1 atom thick

From: Jeff Daulton <quark_14_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:58:57 -0000

I'd suggest not holding your breath on this stuff. Right now the
primary method of producing it is annealing a SiC (silicon carbide)
wafer at around 1000C in ultra-high vacuum (below 1e-7 torr) so the
silicon atoms desorb from the surface and leave you with a couple of
monolayers of sp2 hybridized carbon. It does have some pretty cool
electronic properties though... <smacks self for thinking of work when
he should be building instead>

--Jeff

--- In Indoor_Construction_at_yahoogroups.com, Marty Alderman <mda35@...>
wrote:
>
> "Interesting stuff. I'm still not clear on just how strong is "very
> strong" when talking molecular thicknesses."
>
> I believe Young's Modulus is more than 4 times that of Steel or kevlar
> and tensile strength is 10 - 30 times as much.
> The issue of scaling that to actual strength and workability at the
> thickness the article speaks of is another issue, though.
>
> "If a molecule of graphite
> is .34 namometers, and 1000nm=1 micron, and our old Y2K is .5 micron,
> then graphene is what, around 1,200 times thinner than our film?"
>
> Yup ... those numbers sound about right.
>
> "From Wickepedia <<Graphene is presently one of the most expensive
> materials on Earth, with a sample that can be placed at the cross
> section of a human hair costing more than $1,000 (as of April 2008).>>"
>
> It's actually pretty easy to make carbon nanotubes up to a couple of
> millimeters long right now. Getting beyond that is trickier! This
is a
> major area of research, so such materials might be on the market sooner
> than we might expect.
>
> "But never say never!
> Mark F1diddler"
>
> That is so true! Look at the kevlar bracing thread and carbon
materials
> we are already using!
>
> Marty
>
> --
> Marty Alderman
> Physics Teacher!
> Cornell University PhysTEC TIR (Teacher In Residence)
>
> 101 Clark Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
> 607.255.8158
> mda35_at_...
>
> At some point in their lives, most people ask themselves:
> "Does my life have meaning?"
> Most teachers answer it emphatically:
> "Absolutely! YES!"
>
Received on Tue Sep 23 2008 - 21:59:02 CEST