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Saturday, October 9, 2010

A New Material Only a Single Atom Thick



After my uncle told me about this, my initial reaction was to make a post about it. So, I shall. 
The image above is a super magnified image of graphite molecules on a graphene sheet only a 
single atom thick. Yes, only one atom. The thinness is beyond our comprehension; in fact, the sheet is so thin that it is completely transparent. Yet, it is 100 times stronger than steel. Developed by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of the University of Manchester, England, scientists contend that we cannot yet begin to imagine all of the possible 
applications of the graphene sheet. It could replace plastics, create a new form of touch screen, build lighter planes, and so on. Also, because of the conductive properties of graphite, this sheet can be used to create more advanced computers, perhaps even the ones mentioned in my original post. No matter what the applications, this will certainly affect your life in the future. And then you can say you heard about it first on The Magic of Today's Technology! If you haven't been already, you'll be shocked to know just how these great minds discovered how to create the sheet. All they did was acquire some graphite, the substance of every pencil lead, and some scotch tape. Then, they used the scotch tape to pull off layer after layer of graphite until, eventually, it was only a single atom thick. It's almost unbelievable how something so simple could produce something so extraordinary. It's kind of like the simple method used to improve bifocals in one of my previous posts, except on a much higher level level. Bravo Geim and Konstantin, you two certainly deserved the Nobel prize you were awarded for your tremendous discovery! Read more at http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20101006/news/101009776

9 comments:

  1. Hmm... why is it so small in the first place to be honest.

    http://quarterqwerty.blogspot.com/

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  2. Invisible and 100x stronger than steel? Bullet shield!

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  3. holy moly, that's got some incredible potential. this could be the invention of forcefields people! :P

    regards,
    the big L.P.

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  4. Fricken Brilliant! Cant see it, feel it or smell it. But they can not only prove it exist, they know its strengths and possible uses. Phenominal - do doodo do do, do doodo do. Phenominal.

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