JimD
12-10-2010, 08:58 AM
----------------- #1230 - Nanotube Weirdness of the Very Small?
- As astronomers search the very big we find weirdness, 95% of which is not understood. The same happens in the other directions as physicists search the very small atoms and molecules do not behave like we expect. Nanotechnology weirdness will go commercial before we ever understand how it works. It will be even better when we understand it.
- Attachments - Nanotubes.
- We live in the “middle”. Size wise we are half way between the very big and the very small. Astronomy and Cosmology are sciences that get into the very big stuff and weird things happen. You get mysteries about Blackholes, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy. In fact, astronomers are convinced that what the eyes can see is only 2% of what’s out there in the “ Observerable Universe”. There is other ordinary matter that we can not see that gets us up to 4 or 5% of the Universe. The rest is not “ordinary”. And, we do not know what it is or how it works. Dark Matter is 23% of the mass-energy in the Universe. Dark Energy is 73%. There are many mysteries to be solved in this very big stuff.
- The same thing is happening with the very small. When things get small we enter another world of the weird and mysterious. Nanotechnology is one of the sciences searching into the very small. What they are learning is that at smallest sizes ordinary matter does not behave in ordinary ways. Things become mysterious because we can not explain them with what we know. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A nanometer is 10^-9 meters. A nanometer is 0.000,000,001 meters A nanometer is the size of 10 atoms that are side-by-side.
- To get to the very small measured in nanometers we are dealing with these size scales:
--------------- A man ------------------- 1,700,000,000 -------- nanometers tall
-------------- A golf ball ------------------ 40,000,000 -------- nanometers in diameter.
-------------- A house fly ----------------- 10,000,000 -------- nanometers long
-------------- A dime ------------------------ 1,000,000 ------ nanometers thickness
-------------- A dust mite ---------------- 250,000 ------- nanometers
-------------- A ragweed pollen -------------- 20,000 --------- nanometers
-------------- A blood cell ----------------------- 7,000 --------- nanometers
-------------- E. coli bacterium --------------- 2,000 --------- nanometers
------------- A virus ------------------------------- 50 --------- nanometers
---------------DNA -------------------------------- 2 --------nanometers wide
---------------Carbon Nanotubes ------------------ 1.3 ------- nanometers wide
------------- Hydrogen atom ------------------------- 0.1 ------- nanometers diameter
- So what does ordinary carbon behave like when it is a carbon nanotubes 1.3 nanometers in diameter? For one thing is does not burn. It is able to conduct heat so fast that it never oxidizes , or burns, creating carbon dioxide and water like ordinary carbon. What exactly is a carbon nanotube? When carbon atoms form a lattice with each set of atoms forming a hexagon and each hexagon connected to the next hexagon like chicken wire we have a sheet of carbon called a fullerene. If you wrap the sheet into a cylinder it becomes a hollow tube. This is a nanotube. If you form the sheet into a sphere it would be called a Buckyball.
- Carbon nanotubes can reach temperatures of 2,500 Centigrade and still not burn. The heat travels through the nanotubes 10,000 times faster than it travels through the liquid gasoline fire that is heating it up. Science does not understand how nanotubes can conduct heat so fast that an oxidation reaction does not have time to combust. It is even more amazing that ahead of this thermo power wave is an electric current with a power density higher than that from a lithium-ion battery. The nanotubes can carry an electric current density that is 1,000 times greater than a copper conductor.
- Carbon is not the only element that gets strange at nano- dimensions. Gold atoms turn red when they reach the nano -size. And, red gold has a different melting point than ordinary gold. Ancient artisans discovered this allowing them to produce brilliant stained glass for their cathedrals.
- Nanotubes can be grown to produce the darkest material ever discovered. Even though nanotubes are small in diameter, 1.3 nanometers, they can be grown to be 18 centimeters long. This is a length to width ratio of 132,000,000 to 1. The carbon nanotube tree is 18 centimeters tall and 1/ 50,000 the width of a human hair.
- Science has grown a forest of these nano-trees that are 10 nanometers across and 500,000 nanometers tall. If this were a forest of No.2 pencils they would be standing 100 times taller than the Statue of Liberty. (See footnote 1). What is mysterious about this material is that it is the darkest material every discovered. When light shines on this nanotube forest 99.95% of the light is absorbed. None is reflected. The material becomes a sponge that soaks up all the light. It is the best blackbody so far discovered.
- Another mysterious behavior of these long nanotubes is that they act like muscles., like rubber bands, when you stretch them one way they contract in the other way. The ratio of stretching to contraction is called the “Poisson Ratio”. Rubber has a ratio of 0.5. Cork has a ratio of near zero. That is why it is easy to wedge a cork into a wine bottle. Nanotubes sheets have a ratio of 15. If you stretch it 1% in one direction its volume shrinks by 23.5%. Our natural muscles typically can change there length by less than 40%. These nanotube artificial muscles can change their length by 230%. So, we have an artificial muscle ideal for robots. Not only is it faster and stronger than our muscles it can withstand extreme environments , like the surface of Mars.
- Carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel and Kevlon. They are already being used in the manufacturer of racing bicycles, in an 8,000 pound boat, in wind turbines, marine paint, skis, baseball bats, hunting arrows, surfboards, and the list is growing rapidly.
- The potential uses are still up to the imagination, yet to be demonstrated, but include electronic transistors, batteries, solar cells, capacitors, electric motors, displays for cell phones, Nanoradios, flywheels, fuel cells, and the list is growing rapidly.
- All this enthusiasm comes with a WARNING. Carbon nanotubes can pose serious risks to human health. Like asbestos fibers in mesothelioma causes lung cancer, nanotubes could cause serious problems once inside the human body. Extreme caution is needed in dealing with this science and manufacturing.
- Mysteries in the very big and the very small. When a property is observed we will creatively figure out a way to use it even though we do not understand how it works. We just know it does work. Stay tuned for how and why. Announcements will be made shortly.
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(1) No.2 pencil is 20 centimeters long. Statue of Liberty is 93 meters tall. That is 500 to 1. 10 nanometers to 500,000 nanometers is 50,000 to 1, 100 times taller.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copy to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email. Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: [email protected] ([email protected]). or, use www.facebook.com (https://www.facebook.com/), or , www.twitter.com (https://www.twitter.com/).
707-536-3272, [email protected] ([email protected]) Friday, December 10, 2010
- As astronomers search the very big we find weirdness, 95% of which is not understood. The same happens in the other directions as physicists search the very small atoms and molecules do not behave like we expect. Nanotechnology weirdness will go commercial before we ever understand how it works. It will be even better when we understand it.
- Attachments - Nanotubes.
- We live in the “middle”. Size wise we are half way between the very big and the very small. Astronomy and Cosmology are sciences that get into the very big stuff and weird things happen. You get mysteries about Blackholes, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy. In fact, astronomers are convinced that what the eyes can see is only 2% of what’s out there in the “ Observerable Universe”. There is other ordinary matter that we can not see that gets us up to 4 or 5% of the Universe. The rest is not “ordinary”. And, we do not know what it is or how it works. Dark Matter is 23% of the mass-energy in the Universe. Dark Energy is 73%. There are many mysteries to be solved in this very big stuff.
- The same thing is happening with the very small. When things get small we enter another world of the weird and mysterious. Nanotechnology is one of the sciences searching into the very small. What they are learning is that at smallest sizes ordinary matter does not behave in ordinary ways. Things become mysterious because we can not explain them with what we know. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A nanometer is 10^-9 meters. A nanometer is 0.000,000,001 meters A nanometer is the size of 10 atoms that are side-by-side.
- To get to the very small measured in nanometers we are dealing with these size scales:
--------------- A man ------------------- 1,700,000,000 -------- nanometers tall
-------------- A golf ball ------------------ 40,000,000 -------- nanometers in diameter.
-------------- A house fly ----------------- 10,000,000 -------- nanometers long
-------------- A dime ------------------------ 1,000,000 ------ nanometers thickness
-------------- A dust mite ---------------- 250,000 ------- nanometers
-------------- A ragweed pollen -------------- 20,000 --------- nanometers
-------------- A blood cell ----------------------- 7,000 --------- nanometers
-------------- E. coli bacterium --------------- 2,000 --------- nanometers
------------- A virus ------------------------------- 50 --------- nanometers
---------------DNA -------------------------------- 2 --------nanometers wide
---------------Carbon Nanotubes ------------------ 1.3 ------- nanometers wide
------------- Hydrogen atom ------------------------- 0.1 ------- nanometers diameter
- So what does ordinary carbon behave like when it is a carbon nanotubes 1.3 nanometers in diameter? For one thing is does not burn. It is able to conduct heat so fast that it never oxidizes , or burns, creating carbon dioxide and water like ordinary carbon. What exactly is a carbon nanotube? When carbon atoms form a lattice with each set of atoms forming a hexagon and each hexagon connected to the next hexagon like chicken wire we have a sheet of carbon called a fullerene. If you wrap the sheet into a cylinder it becomes a hollow tube. This is a nanotube. If you form the sheet into a sphere it would be called a Buckyball.
- Carbon nanotubes can reach temperatures of 2,500 Centigrade and still not burn. The heat travels through the nanotubes 10,000 times faster than it travels through the liquid gasoline fire that is heating it up. Science does not understand how nanotubes can conduct heat so fast that an oxidation reaction does not have time to combust. It is even more amazing that ahead of this thermo power wave is an electric current with a power density higher than that from a lithium-ion battery. The nanotubes can carry an electric current density that is 1,000 times greater than a copper conductor.
- Carbon is not the only element that gets strange at nano- dimensions. Gold atoms turn red when they reach the nano -size. And, red gold has a different melting point than ordinary gold. Ancient artisans discovered this allowing them to produce brilliant stained glass for their cathedrals.
- Nanotubes can be grown to produce the darkest material ever discovered. Even though nanotubes are small in diameter, 1.3 nanometers, they can be grown to be 18 centimeters long. This is a length to width ratio of 132,000,000 to 1. The carbon nanotube tree is 18 centimeters tall and 1/ 50,000 the width of a human hair.
- Science has grown a forest of these nano-trees that are 10 nanometers across and 500,000 nanometers tall. If this were a forest of No.2 pencils they would be standing 100 times taller than the Statue of Liberty. (See footnote 1). What is mysterious about this material is that it is the darkest material every discovered. When light shines on this nanotube forest 99.95% of the light is absorbed. None is reflected. The material becomes a sponge that soaks up all the light. It is the best blackbody so far discovered.
- Another mysterious behavior of these long nanotubes is that they act like muscles., like rubber bands, when you stretch them one way they contract in the other way. The ratio of stretching to contraction is called the “Poisson Ratio”. Rubber has a ratio of 0.5. Cork has a ratio of near zero. That is why it is easy to wedge a cork into a wine bottle. Nanotubes sheets have a ratio of 15. If you stretch it 1% in one direction its volume shrinks by 23.5%. Our natural muscles typically can change there length by less than 40%. These nanotube artificial muscles can change their length by 230%. So, we have an artificial muscle ideal for robots. Not only is it faster and stronger than our muscles it can withstand extreme environments , like the surface of Mars.
- Carbon nanotubes are stronger than steel and Kevlon. They are already being used in the manufacturer of racing bicycles, in an 8,000 pound boat, in wind turbines, marine paint, skis, baseball bats, hunting arrows, surfboards, and the list is growing rapidly.
- The potential uses are still up to the imagination, yet to be demonstrated, but include electronic transistors, batteries, solar cells, capacitors, electric motors, displays for cell phones, Nanoradios, flywheels, fuel cells, and the list is growing rapidly.
- All this enthusiasm comes with a WARNING. Carbon nanotubes can pose serious risks to human health. Like asbestos fibers in mesothelioma causes lung cancer, nanotubes could cause serious problems once inside the human body. Extreme caution is needed in dealing with this science and manufacturing.
- Mysteries in the very big and the very small. When a property is observed we will creatively figure out a way to use it even though we do not understand how it works. We just know it does work. Stay tuned for how and why. Announcements will be made shortly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) No.2 pencil is 20 centimeters long. Statue of Liberty is 93 meters tall. That is 500 to 1. 10 nanometers to 500,000 nanometers is 50,000 to 1, 100 times taller.
----------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copy to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email. Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: [email protected] ([email protected]). or, use www.facebook.com (https://www.facebook.com/), or , www.twitter.com (https://www.twitter.com/).
707-536-3272, [email protected] ([email protected]) Friday, December 10, 2010