Exploring Nanotechnology - Carbon Nanotubes Quiz

Answer: A rolled up piece of chicken wire

A carbon nanotube is a piece of graphene, which is made up of carbon in the shape of hexagons, rolled into a tube. Chicken wire and carbon nanotubes both are made up of hexagons, due to their ideal shape.

Answer: One centimeter

Carbon nanotubes are incredibly small, at 1 nanometer, or 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter. If you lined up 10,000,000 nanotubes, they would be the same as one centimeter. Now, THAT'S really small.

Answer: Helix

Imagine the chicken wire example. You have a flat piece, with the top and bottom parallel to the table. If you roll the chicken wire down, you have "armchair". If you roll it to the right, you have "zigzag". If you roll it diagonally from the top-left to the bottom-right, you have "chiral". A carbon nanotube's properties change with the kind of nanotube it is.

Answer: multi-walled carbon nanotube

A multi-walled carbon nanotube (or MWNT) is a collection of concentric single-walled nanotubes (or SWNT) with different diameters. These MWNTs are metallic, but properties can change with outer diameter, number of shells, length, and so on.

Answer: True

This amazing property of carbon nanotubes is one reason why nanotubes are being more and more researched. Carbon nanotubes are some of the strongest substances on the planet.

Answer: Quantum dot synthesis

In electric arc discharge, a discharge in the form of an arc condenses vaporized carbon. In that process, MWNTs, SWNTs (or single-walled nanotubes), fullrenes, and amorphous carbon are all formed.

In laser ablation, a high power laser removes a blog of graphite mixed with caralystic metal. In that process, very pure CNTs (carbon nanotubes) and MWNTs are found often in bundles.

In chemical vapor deposition, a charged hydrogen plasma underneath a carbon enviroment raises carbon nanotubes off a catalyst sample almost like hair. This process is the most often used among the three.

Quantum dot synthesis is from my imagination.

Answer: All of these

Carbon nanotubes line the cloth, sticking out of the fabric. When any substance tries to get into the fabric, the carbon nanotubes are so close together, the substance cannot get in, and then rolls off the cloth.

I got to play with a shirt that was made of "nanotextiles". It was a standard polo shirt, button-down and a left breast pocket. If you poured water into the pocket, the water stayed inside the pocket, and did not spill through.

Answer: ethanol

This carbon nanotube was created at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with people from the University of California and Duke University.

While carbon nanotubes are very strong, they are very hard to make. The average nanotube is scientist so far have only been able to make them into a string of 3 cm, due to most carbon nanotubes average around 0.5-1.0 cm long. But, carbon nanotubes have just started in a new generation of scientist and technology. There is more hope for amazing feats with the nanotubes, but for now, we will let the scientists do their work.

Answer: True

Due to the carbon nanotube's shape and symmetry, its electrical properties are also very pure. Because there are no impurities in a carbon nanotube, the carbon nanotube acts like a metal, making electric flow much easier.

Answer: Space elevator

Hopefully, "get off the ground" was a clue.

The book was "The Fountains of Paradise", by Arthur C. Clarke, the same man who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey"

A space elevator is exactly what it says. An elevator, that has a base on the ground, will extend miles off the ground, entering the vacuum of space. The main purpose would be scientific research, and possibly, tourism.

The main problem so far is finding a cable that would be strong enough to be able to hold an elevator to extend all the way to space. Carbon nanotubes are a good subject, but we have only got them to measure about 3 cm.

As you can tell, the possiblities of carbon nanotubes are endless, and the science of nanotubes are only in its dawn. With the next coming years, we can expect to see more applications of carbon nanotubes, and more dreams coming true.

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