[CoiI8XIj]

Article Preview

Who needs a particle accelerator to explore the bizarre fringes of quantum theory, when inside every pencil there's a neutron star dying to get out?


INSIDE every pencil, there is a neutron star waiting to get out. To release it, just draw a line. The soft, silvery-grey form of pure carbon found in pencils consists of stacked-up sheets of interlinked carbon atoms. Separate these sheets to obtain gossamer films of carbon just one atom thick and you have a material called graphene, whose properties mimic those of the exotic substances found in collapsed stars.
Graphene even shares properties with materials that were around in the first instants of the big bang. It's not just about cosmology. According to some enthusiasts, graphene's ability to conduct electricity promises new and powerful electronic devices fashioned from sheets of carbon cut up into circuitry. And the peculiar way that graphene conducts electricity opens up avenues into some of the weirder areas of quantum physics. It is no wonder that this innocuous material has become one of the hottest substances ...

The complete article is 1940 words long. Full Article - Subscription required

[CoiI8XIj]

http://www.tgdaily.com/general-scien...ry-of-graphene

Two Russian scientists have won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work developing graphene.

Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov demonstrated that carbon in this extremely thin form - just one atom thick - had exceptional properties originating in the world of quantum physics.

Konstantin Novoselov is a Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Manchester in their Mesoscopic Research Group researching mesoscopic systems and nanostructures.

He was awarded the 2008 Europhysics Prize for the same discovery.
Andre Geim is a physicist who, as well as the discovery of graphene, is known for the development of gecko tape and demonstrations of diamagnetic levitation. He's also based at the University of Manchester.

Graphene is both the thinnest and the strongest material yet discovered. Geim and Novoselov extracted it from ordinary graphite, and used ordinary adhesive tape to obtain a flake of carbon with a thickness of just one atom.

"Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov have shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics," says the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

"A vast variety of practical applications now appear possible including the creation of new materials and the manufacture of innovative electronics. Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster than today’s silicon transistors and result in more efficient computers."

[Broorbbub]

intersting stuff man
thanks

i have a pair of socks made of graphene and i still got a hole in them

[+++Poguru+++]

Sounds very interesting. I think I'll take a look at this a bit later on. BTW, I didn't need a subscription to view the full article.

[CoiI8XIj]

Sounds very interesting. I think I'll take a look at this a bit later on. BTW, I didn't need a subscription to view the full article.

that link is from about 4 years ago, i just thought i'd update it in context with the other one instead. The research and work into it has won two people a noble prize

[+++Poguru+++]

I can't believe that I didn't notice the date...and that almost no one else found this interesting.

[LindaSmithXV]

Meh, everyone was doing similar things with the AMD Athlons and Durons (using graphite to form a thin film of carbon that is able to conduct electricity) many years before this article\nobel prize.[yes]
I'm sure this is more advanced but still it cracks me up.

[Mark_NyB]

Thats not graphene, thats using the conductive properties of graphite. As is voltage pencil vmods.

Carbon is king really, the basis of all life, diamonds and now exotic conductors.

[Cuccuccaltefe]

Meh, everyone was doing similar things with the AMD Athlons and Durons (using graphite to form a thin film of carbon that is able to conduct electricity) many years before this article\nobel prize.[yes]
I'm sure this is more advanced but still it cracks me up.

So true. The "L3 Bridge" trick done with a pencil, conductive ink or defogger repair kit. [yes]

[LindaSmithXV]

Thats not graphene, thats using the conductive properties of graphite. As is voltage pencil vmods.

Carbon is king really, the basis of all life, diamonds and now exotic conductors.

Graphite is carbon. 100% carbon. Thin layer of carbon atoms in a lattice.

[Mark_NyB]

Graphite is carbon yes.

Graphene is a specific arangement of carbon atoms 1 layer thick.

Just like its not correct to say your pencil draws diamonds.

[KernJetenue]

If we're going to be proper nerds here, one cannot say that graphite (and diamond, graphene, fullerene, etc) is 100% carbon - it will contain a small amount of hydrogen and other trace elements to 'tie up' any free bonds.

[LindaSmithXV]

All I was saying that we knew that a thin layer of carbon (graphite) could conduct electricity, not that it was the same material.

[Ternneowns]

If we're going to be proper nerds here, one cannot say that graphite (and diamond, graphene, fullerene, etc) is 100% carbon - it will contain a small amount of hydrogen and other trace elements to 'tie up' any free bonds.

Isn't everything made out of hydrogen, or at least wasn't it hydrogen before it became what it is? I mean stars are mostly Hydrogen, it is the most abundant substance in the universe (non dark matter) and when compressed in the core of a star, with the heat and pressure it turns it into all the other elements. Maybe it would be more correct to say that everything is born of hydrogen. Or is it just the electrons/protons are stripped from the hydrogen and they create something else?