Nano Stuff

[BLR]

Lighting up a bulb with CNT wire.

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[Malamute]

Cool. I just read up on it a bit. How long do you think before its able to be commonly used?

[Bigguy]

OK, firmly placing my dunce hat on, but I've just got to ask.
First a little back ground on the question:
Many years ago I was reading scientific predictions for future technology. One idea in particular that caught my imagination was the idea of a space elevator. The article then went into a bunch of equations explaining how much force the cable would have to endure. (Don't ask me to duplicate the equations. Refer to first sentence in this post.) The author then made the statement that at that time we had no material capable if withstanding the stress, but suggested that the bond between carbon atoms should be strong enough if we could come up with a way to make a cable out of them. The first time I heard of Carbon Nano Tubes, I wondered if that might be the material that could be used in a Space Elevator. But in those early days, the longest strands were measured in millimeters. Still a tad shy of the roughly 50,000 miles we'll need for a Space Elevator.
Question:
This article sounds like they've come up with a way to spin CNT. Are they making a single CNT, or are they spinning many of them together similar to the way cotton fiber is spun into thread? If it is indeed a single CNT, would it be possible to make them long enough for the use I've mentioned above, and would the resulting cable be strong enough?

[Tamara]

My bad, I thought this was a Beretta thread...

[BLR]

Tam - you though *I* would start a Beretta Nano thread? You just don't know me at all.

Malamute - I'd guess 5 to 10 years. The technology is just now getting to a form factor that is usable in common industry (there's a point of contention in this field about all the black powder that's been made - to including the hundreds of millions of dollars of lost investment - that can't be used for anything). Sooner for boutique applications like sensors and armor.

BG - the space elevator is pure pipe dream. CNTs are just "next generation carbon fiber* in my opinion. We can do things better than CF, but only so much better. All the conductivity and strength numbers quoted in articles are theoretical, no one has reliably produced any material that lived up to hype, Richard Smalley's company included.

[Tamara]

That was supposed to be a joke; like the funny kind, only smaller.

[Bigguy]

BG - the space elevator is pure pipe dream. CNTs are just "next generation carbon fiber* in my opinion. We can do things better than CF, but only so much better. All the conductivity and strength numbers quoted in articles are theoretical, no one has reliably produced any material that lived up to hype, Richard Smalley's company included.

I suspected as much, but hoped not.

[jetfire]

That was supposed to be a joke; like the funny kind, only smaller.

So like a picojoke?

[TheTrevor]

So like a picojoke?

It was funnier than that, making it at least a nanojoke.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Many years ago I was reading scientific predictions for future technology. One idea in particular that caught my imagination was the idea of a space elevator.(snip) The first time I heard of Carbon Nano Tubes, I wondered if that might be the material that could be used in a Space Elevator. But in those early days, the longest strands were measured in millimeters. Still a tad shy of the roughly 50,000 miles we'll need for a Space Elevator.
Question:
This article sounds like they've come up with a way to spin CNT. Are they making a single CNT, or are they spinning many of them together similar to the way cotton fiber is spun into thread? If it is indeed a single CNT, would it be possible to make them long enough for the use I've mentioned above, and would the resulting cable be strong enough?

BG - the space elevator is pure pipe dream. CNTs are just "next generation carbon fiber* in my opinion. We can do things better than CF, but only so much better. All the conductivity and strength numbers quoted in articles are theoretical, no one has reliably produced any material that lived up to hype, Richard Smalley's company included.

Funny enough, there was a blurb on the TV news yesterday about some thread being produced and mucho talk about the space elevator. My search fu is weak, though.