From Carnegie Science's website:
A team including Carnegie’s Malcolm Guthrie and George Cody has, for the first time, discovered how to produce ultra-thin "diamond nanothreads" that promise extraordinary properties, including strength and stiffness greater than that of today's strongest nanotubes and polymer fibers. Such exceedingly strong, stiff, and light materials have an array of potential applications, everything from more-fuel efficient vehicles or even the science fictional-sounding proposal for a “space elevator.” Their work is published in Nature Materials.
Abstract (and link to buy PDF of the full paper for $32) here.
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(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Friday September 26 2014, @05:32AM
Dimondium or Dimondillium? and which is stronger?
(Score: 1) by chewbacon on Friday September 26 2014, @05:29PM
Either way, be careful with it. It's unbreakable.
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Saturday September 27 2014, @04:13AM
if it's unbreakable, why would I need to be careful?
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday September 26 2014, @06:27AM
How is this different than carbon nanotubes? Diamond nanothread, diamond is pure C. I guess the only difference is structure? But then a more accurate title would be "New carbon nanotube structure developed" or something. I guess that doesn't have the same kick as mentioning diamonds, but as a Geology neophyte I wouldn't consider a nanothread as having diamond structure since it'd be too small to really exhibit the key diamond characteristics.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @06:33AM
But describing this as a "carbon nanotube structure" is just wrong, because they aren't tubular.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26 2014, @06:38AM
is pure C
Ah, so this is why it hogs all the world's resources. We should make Java nanotubes instead, they are cheaper, faster, and make you popular with women!
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Friday September 26 2014, @06:40AM
And when a new diamond mine is found, it should be titled "New coal mine opened"? Can I offer you a good business? I send you 100kg of carbon in the so-called "coal" structure, and you send me 50kg of carbon in the so-called "diamond" structure? :-) I don't know enough about the diamond tubes to really disagree with you, but in principle I think a different structure *does* allow for a different name, if the difference is clearly defined and not just gradual.
This is an interesting question. I can offer you a good link to the abstract [nature.com] of this paper (and link to buy PDF of the full paper for $32).
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(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Friday September 26 2014, @06:43AM
In diamond, the orbital hybridization is sp3
A refresher [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday September 26 2014, @06:54AM
Nanotubes and graphite adopt a structure closer to planar hexagons - see also 1,2-Dimethyl-chickenwire [wikipedia.org].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Friday September 26 2014, @12:55PM
Well considering that diamond like carbon [wikipedia.org] also exhibits some of the properties I would assume that the nano wire would as well. Also they don't have to exhibit all or any of the properties of the bulk material so long as they exhibit some interesting or unique properties but it sounds like chemically they would be in the diamond category.
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(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday September 26 2014, @08:01AM
$32 is too much for nanothread, even diamond nanothread. Maybe if they mixed in some platinum and cotton/poly, but for plain diamond, it's just too expensive.
(Score: 2) by drussell on Friday September 26 2014, @08:22AM
Farnsworth: Bender, be careful. That's the ships diamond filament tether. It's unbreakable.
Bender: Then why do I have to be careful?
Farnsworth: It belonged to my grandmother.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Covalent on Friday September 26 2014, @01:42PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise#Themes [wikipedia.org]
Seriously, this may be the 100th correct prediction from this man. Did anyone bother to get a DNA sample or freeze his head or something?
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.
(Score: 2) by Max Hyre on Friday September 26 2014, @04:54PM
(Score: 1) by HiThere on Friday September 26 2014, @07:42PM
Well, if it's a nano-thread, then it's probably chemically active. Unlike silicon-dioxide, pure carbon is digestible by the body's chemistry. (I think. People have been eating essentially pure carbon for centuries.)
OTOH, even with fibreglass, probably most of the problem is with the matrix into which the threads of glass are put.
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(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday September 27 2014, @01:27AM
Pure active carbon [wikipedia.org] is used as a medication for among other things food poisoning (it's often a good idea to take some with you on holiday in case you get an upset stomach) and for destroying various biological and chemical weapons in gas mask [wikipedia.org] filters [wikipedia.org].
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(Score: 2) by Yog-Yogguth on Saturday September 27 2014, @01:30AM
I shouldn't have written ‘destroying’ but rather ‘combating’ since it doesn't destroy anything.
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