Mankind naturally strives the most efficient, practical, and useful things that they can make. We desire the thinnest smartphones, mass storage of things such as books and music, the fastest and smallest cars at the same time, and we desire to read books at incredible speeds. We are constantly bettering ourselves and the world around us so that we can get things done quicker and we can get them done in an easier fashion. In short, we strive for the most efficiency in the smallest amount of time or the smallest amount of space. Although we achieve this goal of efficiency in a small amount of space in things such as smart-phones and cars such as the smart-car, we are only just breaking the touching the surface of what is to come. We have yet to unlock the true potential of the single substance that quite literally is the thinnest material, while being the best conductor of heat and electricity in the world. This material is known as Graphene, and it is a material with an interesting history, an interesting structure, and an interesting future.
Graphene is an allotrope of Carbon. An allotrope is a “different form of the same element with different bonding arrangements between atoms”.1 Other allotropes of Carbon include common substances such as coal, graphite, and diamond. Diamond is an allotrope in which every single atom is bonded to four other atoms, which makes it one of the strongest materials in the world. Graphite is an allotrope where “each atom is linked to three others in layers of hexagonal (six-sided) shapes that look like chicken wire”2, which makes it easy for the layers to slip by each other thus resulting in the soft material that we are even able to write with on paper. Graphene, however, is an allotrope in which “...
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... of technology. Graphene, due to its electrical conductivity could be used in smartphone screens. These smart phone screens would be so flexible and thin, that you could fold it up like a piece of paper and put it into your pocket without anything breaking. These are just some of the many possibilities of graphene.11
All in all, graphene truly is a single layer of endless possibilities. Within the next twenty years we will be surrounded with graphene products. Graphene will power our buildings, be in our smartphones in our pockets, and it will be in our bodies and the bodies around us in bionic devices. However before any of these amazing things can happen, we must find a way to harness the true power of this material and mass-produce it on a global scale. For the first step to changing the world with this material is getting it out of the lab and onto the streets.
“Look at you … The material you are made of is soft and flabby, lacking endurance and strength, depending for energy upon the inefficient oxidation of organic material. I … am a finished product. I absorb electrical energy directly and utilize it with an almost one hundred percent efficiency. I am composed of strong metal, am continuously conscious, and can stand extremes of environment easily.” (Asimov
Carbon is one of the 115 chemical elements discovered on Earth which is part of the nonmetals group with other elements such as nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. Carbon as an element has good stability, it is very light, very stable, and has many types of forms such as graphite, and coal. Carbon fiber is just another form of carbon, basically has filaments between five to ten micrometers in diameter of pure carbon or at least 90% of carbon. Thousand carbon fibers are twisted together to form a long chain, which can then be used in a variety of raw forms, including yarns, weaves, and braids, which are in turn mixed with synthetic resins to create the carbon fiber as a composite material. Based on different characteristics carbon fibers can be divided into three principals groups: according to carbon fiber tensile modulus, according to precursor fiber materials, and according to final heat
The elastic modulus of even amorphous diamond is around 800 GPa which is already much higher than any other MEMS material that is currently ...
We use to have the desk top computers which we could only use at home or work that occupied a lot of space. Now we have laptops, tablets, and smart phones. It is nice to have this types of devices because we are able to use it as a means of communications. We are able to surf the web on our smart phones and also compose or answer emails. Movies and television programs can also be viewed on our phones, laptops and tablets.
Bourzac, Katherine. "A Practical Way to Make Invisibility Cloaks." MIT Technology Rview. N.p., 11 June 2011. Web. 12 May. 2014. .
In a nutshell, here are some academically beneficial aspects of cell phones and other devices. Most modern devices are capable of remembering complex math theorems and are able to note due dates for assignments. My phone has a "Notes" application, where I conveniently store all of my assignments. So, for those of you who are arguing that there is no reason to have a phone in school, how do you think I get absolutely all of my homework assignments done on time? Another aspect that is advantageous in most cell phones are calculator applications. Rather than spending an additional $100 on a fancy Texas Instruments calculator for Trigonometry or Calculus, I am easily able to access an application on my cellphone that allows me to take advantage of all of the functions that any standard calculator is able to use.
The ultra-small thickness of graphene could significantly improve the pressure sensitivity of the FPI sensors. In addition, graphene has much better mechanical strength than other thin film materials including metal and silica and could bear a static pressure up to MPa.
Carbon Carbon is one of the basic elements of matter (Bush 1230-1231). The name carbon comes from the Latin word "carbo" meaning charcoal. Carbon is the sixth most abundant element (Gangson). More than 1,000,000 compounds are made from carbon (Carbon (C)). "The Element Carbon is defined as a naturally abundant non-metallic element that occurs in many inorganic and in all organic compounds, exists freely as graphite and diamond and as a constituent of coal, limestone, and petroleum, and is capable of chemical self-bonding to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically, and commercially important molecules.
In fact, many forms of technology help us in our everyday lives. Even so, practically every problem that stems from technology can also be related to overuse of electronics. For example, looking around at a restaurant, a person might find almost every young or old patron on their cell phone. This takes away from dinner conversation and can be frustrating to try to talk to someone who is playing on their cell phone. Being on your phone all the time can also cause romantic relationships to fall apart in certain cases.
Diamond is made up of carbon. Another form of pure carbon is graphite. Graphite is the stable form of carbon, found at the earth’s surface. Despite the fact that they have identical chemical composition, the two minerals are drastically different. Diamond is the hardest known substance and is usually light colored and transparent, while graphite is greasy, easily powdered, and very dark in color. Diamond is the hardest gem on Mohs’ hardness scale and graphite is the softest. Diamond is very hard because of its dense packing and interlocking atomic arrangement. Graphite, on the other hand, although it is the same element, is more loosely packed and has a six-sided, layered configuration, which makes it soft (Pough, 1991). The differences between graphite and diamonds are accounted for by the conditions in which they are created.
Steel: (for all intents and purposes) was invented in 1855 by Henry Bessemer(Mary Bellis). Science the amazing innovation that has changed the world incredible things have been made from the material from bridged cables and cross beams to arresting wires on aircraft carriers that stop monumental force and speed. It is truly an amazing martial, but eventually it snaps, breaks or tears due to the separation of the molecules. Also steel is not the most flexible material there is which may sound good for what it is used for, construction. You wouldn’t want the floor to shift from under but, what about in areas that have a consent threat of earthquakes having a material that is rigid when needed and flexible when needed would be an invaluable asset to construction companies in many countries. Also at $600-$900 per ton(Platts Mcgraw hill financial) it isn’t the most inexpensive material that could be chosen. Chemically is there a better material that could be used in the place of steel that is stronger more flexible and can be produced for a cheaper price than the normal steel that we use today? First, the choice of spider silk seems like a great choice. Mother nature seems to be the greatest designer of all made of different sections of proteins of extremely ridged and at the same time extremely elastic strings of proteins, that when braided together are 5 times stronger than steel and relatively free to produce as long as the spiders are kept healthy. What makes the proteins so strong? They are linked together almost like thousands of Lego’s linked together which by its self does not sound very strong, but just take 3 and pull length wise and try to pull them apart, it's almost impossible. The same concept is used in the spider's silk...
A Diamond is one of the two natural minerals that are produced from carbon. The other mineral is Graphite. Even though both of these minerals are produced from the same element ,carbon, they have totally different characteristics. One of the most obvious difference is that Diamond is hard and Graphite is soft. The Diamond is considered to be the most hardest substance found in nature. It scores a perfect ten in hardness. Because of its hardness a tiny Diamond is used as a cutting and drilling tool in industry. Even the Greeks called the Diamond “adamas” which means unconquerable. Diamonds also conducts heat better than any other mineral .
As technology advances, our society is able to advances also. Instead of tangle with how technology cause laziness or distracting us from what is important, it would better to think about how to use technology to make our life better.
Graphite is another form of carbon. It occurs as a mineral in nature, but it can be made artificially from amorphous carbon. One of the main uses for graphite is for its lubricating qualities. Another is for the "lead" in pencils. Graphite is used as a heat resistant material and an electricity conductor. It is also used in nuclear reactors as a lubricator (Kinoshita 119-127).
...l cells. Also with making cars more efficient you can use lighter material when building automobiles and making more proficient engines (344, Withgott, Laposata).