Carbon Nanotubes
Jack F. 2/8/22
A carbon nanotube is a small tube sometimes with a diameter of less than one nanometer.
As an example, the purple thing is a part of a human hair. The yellow things are the carbon nanotubes. In other words, these things are very small. Why are they so small? Carbon nanotubes are not complex. They are carbon molecules that have been rolled up.
What's cool, but what are they good at?
Metallic nanotubes can carry an electric currency 1000 times better than other metals like copper. In other words, it's really good at conducting electricity. The tensile strength, or amount of tension it can withstand without breaking, is much higher than steel. Its thermal conductivity is also high, being higher than a diamond, which in this area is very high. The aspect ratio, or the ratio of the width and height, is greater than 1000. It is made of carbon so it is very lightweight, the density being 1/6 of steel. They can resist virtually any chemical unless exposed to high temperatures and oxygen.
A better visualizer of what they look like.
A lot of hexagons connected together forming a cylinder.
Carbon is in the shape of a hexagon, which explains this.
In theory (scientists have yet to find out a way to implement them), carbon nanotubes can be used for many things. Whether it has to do with electricity or shielding against chemicals, it can work. The potential for this material is very big. It has many good material properties that other materials don't, so there are so many implementations for them.
This material was made more as a scientific advancement than anything else. It was made by Sumio Iijima (shown right) in 1991. There is little to no practicality with the carbon nanotubes at the moment, but they have a lot of potential if scientists find out how to align the nanotubes and mass produce them.
Works Cited
Berger, Michael. “Carbon Nanotubes – What They Are, How They Are Made, What They Are Used For.” Nanotechnology, 18 Sept. 2021, www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology/introduction/introduction_to_nanotechnology_22.php.
“Carbon Nanotubes.” Carbon Nanotubes - an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/carbon-nanotubes.
“The Discovery and Future of Carbon Nanotubes Sumio Iijima.” NEC, www.nec.com/en/global/rd/special/202007/index.html.
Sponsored by Cheap Tubes Inc.Apr 23 2018. “A History of Carbon Nanotubes.” AZoNano.com, 26 Sept. 2019, www.azonano.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=4843.